


A Classic PUNder TAIL

by Anjel_X



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Found Family, No Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:41:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23332546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anjel_X/pseuds/Anjel_X
Summary: The Monsters had been on the Surface for a few years now, but it wasn't perfect. Sans didn't think he'd ever get used to so many Humans, but his little brother was happy. That was good enough for him. Now if he'd only stop messing with that stupid machine before he Dusts himself... too bad he never takes his own advice...
Kudos: 9
Collections: unaVOIDable resPUNSibilities





	1. Shortcuts are unaVOIDable

The Monsters had been on the Surface for a few years now, not all of those were peaceful. The first few years were pretty shaky with a lot of anti-Monster groups trying to dust them. They were treated as illegal aliens for the first couple of months even though they technically lived in that area their whole lives. They had to live in hastily built shelters near the mountain or go back to the Underground until the Human Government sorted things out. Bit by bit, with the constant work of King Asgore and their self-appointed Human Ambassador of Monsters, Frisk, they slowly gained more and more rights as citizens. Occasionally the former Queen, Toriel, helped though only for the sake of Frisk. Eventually the King and Former Queen were at least on speaking terms, though they still didn’t live together. Frisk happily lived with the beloved Goat Mom once she was finally approved to adopt the child.

Things had finally settled down about two years ago, though there were still hate groups running around. At least they had some rights and there were laws against violence and harassment towards them like any other Human had. Most of the Monsters were not violent by nature, the very few were monitored just in case. The Temmies were also monitored and kept somewhat contained, but for more… chaotic reasons… including the fact that they were banned from the consumption of energy drinks. There were a few close calls with the Captain of the Royal Guard, Undyne, though having the powerful, red-haired Fish Monster act as a bodyguard to the King and Human Ambassador helped keep her out of trouble most of the time. It wasn’t always her fault since most Humans didn’t understand she was just really intense and passionate about things and not that she was actually threating them… most of the time. She also wasn’t allowed to go to any bars without _sober_ supervision anymore. Granted their money or ‘G’ was worth a lot on the Surface, they couldn’t afford to keep constantly paying for repairs or hospital bills from injuries sustained to Humans from overenthusiastic arm wrestling and drunken brawls. Just because she could suplex the bouncer, didn’t mean she should.

It wasn’t perfect, but the whole ordeal was worth being able to see the sun rise every day and the starry skies at night. They were still limited on traveling out of the country unless it was a diplomatic mission or some other government approved trip. It was also limited to a select few Monsters that on a very short list. The King, former Queen, Human Ambassador and their Bodyguard were obviously cleared without as much red tape for the limited diplomatic missions they had. The few others were Doctor Alphys to help with sharing the knowledge of some of their advanced technology as well as explaining their magic to try and get more acceptance with different cultures. The topic of SOULS was still a much argued and heated topic among different cultures and religions. That and the constant struggle to finally get Government approval for allowing Monsters to use Healing Magic on Human patients at Hospitals as well. Granted the Lizard Monster preferred doing video conferences due to her severe anxiety issues, but she had the clearance if needed.

When a mission required a less intimidating representative, as both friendly, but giant 7 foot tall Goat Monsters still scared many of the much smaller Humans, they sent their beloved Monster Ambassador/Mascot. Even though ‘The Great Papyrus’ was slightly taller than the average male Human, his warm smile and overly friendly personality was quick to calm the nerves of most Humans. The cinnamon roll of a Skeleton Monster also had a heavily followed social media presence that helped get some much needed positive presence out to the world. Last, but not least, was his lazy older brother, Sans. Granted he actually did quite a bit despite his lazy attitude, though he preferred to stay on the sidelines and let his ‘cool bro’ take the spotlight. Sometimes he helped Dr. Alphys at the ‘New Lab’, named by Asgore of course, or kept an eye socket on his brother to make sure no-one tried to pull a fast one on his little bro. ‘Little’ being relative as he was a little under 5 feet tall and his younger brother just above 6 feet. Other times he was half-asleep selling hotdogs from a randomly appearing cart or hanging out at his favorite bar. There were various… reasons… for _his_ clearance. Most of those involved his brother… he wasn’t overprotective one tiny bit. Another was a certain secret ‘ability’ that only the King and himself knew about… it was hard for Monsters to ‘Judge’ the Humans true intentions without it after all. Lastly was when he begrudgingly had to do science/magic talk in lieu of Dr. Alphys.

Thankfully, monsters had finally gotten approved to hold jobs and more importantly open up businesses of their own. Grillby’s Bar, Muffet’s Bakery, and the Nice Cream stand were the most popular. The Flamesman and Spider Monster didn’t have a large Human customer base… most stopped in more for the novelty though the few that actually _tried_ something often came back as regulars. The Nice Cream stand was a bit more popular, especially during the warmer months. It was a good thing the cheerful blue Bunny Monster that ran it got help sometimes from his much more grumpy orange Cat Monster friend since his old job was on hold. Not that the chain-smoking Cat Monster was complaining… it was better than the alternative.

Speaking of which… there was Mettaton… the ‘Celebrity of the Underground’. The Robotic Monster wanted as much presence on the surface as possible. Unfortunately for him… though fortunately for the Humans… Mettaton was denied a restaurant license until his food was 100% safe for Human consumption. He still insisted his food had to be ‘As fabulous as I am, darling’ and covered in non-edible glitter and sequins, refusing to budge on that whatsoever. That was the most important stipulation… that all Monster food and drink produced and sold in any establishment was completely safe for Humans to eat. He was also taken aback that he was not permitted clearance for travel out of the country yet. Performing for his ‘adoring fans’ was not considered a diplomatic mission. The Temmie were also refused a food license as construction paper was not considered a consumable item for Humans. Strangely no-one could prove that they weren’t somehow selling Tem Flakes on the Black Market… they were rated Tem outta Tem after all and Tem had 2 pay 4 colleg and gradskool somehow.

Monsters were still not permitted to ‘flaunt’ their magic unless it was part of their job or they were cleared to do demonstrations, training, or sparring at a specially designated site for the safety of any Humans nearby. The sparring events were more regulated as it was not open to the public and only approved spectators were allowed. Humans especially had to sign a waiver and were to stay behind a specially made see through barrier that blocked any stray magic attacks. So far there had been no deaths and no Humans, that obeyed the rules, had been injured. Those that didn’t follow those rules, human or monster, were to be permanently banned from attending any future events no matter the location. Undyne and Papyrus were the most popular to watch, especially when they sparred against each other. At one point it was suggested that they did some kind of Pay-Per-View TV thing, especially whenever those two sparred, to keep the limited seating from being filled over capacity. They could use the proceeds to fund various Monster charities including the research for a cure for the Amalgamates. It had been met with mixed reviews, but was eventually approved as long as it was clearly stated what specific charity the proceeds went to for each viewing.

Training sessions, on the other hand, were private matters and were for only for those Monsters needing to learn how to use their magic or develop new uses for it. The only ‘spectators’ allowed were a small amount of family and/or friends that were approved by the trainee. The only exception was the old Turtle Monster, Gerson… he just kind of showed up most days like he owned the place. There were rumors that he _was_ in fact the main backer for the training sites so that might actually be true. It really wouldn’t surprise anyone at all if he did. No-one had the heart to tell him to leave as his wisdom was greatly appreciated… especially when he decided upon himself to be the trainer himself. For safety reasons, there were no ‘verses’ matches there and they usually only ‘attacked’ a non-living/sentient target. The Ghost Monster possessed Dummies happily approved of this idea. It wasn’t just for young monsters as some just went to ‘mess around’ and let off some extra built up magic. Attacking or using magic on another being was strictly prohibited unless heavily supervised by a trained professional. Gerson might seem old and feeble… and a bit senile… to the unsuspecting eye, but he was still as tough as a tank. Though the fact of whether he was actually senile or not was highly questionable.

Demonstrations were always open to the public and were just for fun. They were usually during festivals or other special events. This idea in particular had been enthusiastically suggested and supported by Papyrus to show the Humans that their magic wasn’t just for attacking. He especially enjoyed showing off his bullet patterns by spelling out words the audience randomly shouted… as long as they were appropriate as he did not tolerate any foul language and would immediately scold the very rude person about it. He wished his lazybones brother would join in the fun, but alas, Sans preferred to park his hot dog cart nearby to feed any hungry spectators. Not that either of the Skeleton brothers were short on money, Sans would never admit to anyone that his ‘dog cart was an lazy… err… inconspicuous way to keep an eye socket on his brother or any other monsters when there were large groups of Humans involved.

¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ 

The short skeleton didn’t think he’d ever get rid of his anxiety around Humans or large crowds in general. Granted he was much better around Frisk nowadays, but all those resets and genocide runs kinda ruined his perception of Humans a bit. Granted they had explained that they were controlled by some kind of demon, but after they finally broke the barrier, they couldn’t feel its presence anymore. They also told him that after saving that last time in the underground as they all stepped out to the surface, they couldn’t see the SAVE points anymore or even the RESET or LOAD ‘buttons’. What they said seemed to be true, Sans hadn’t had any deja’vu moments or sensed any RESETs or LOADs in years. It was slow going, but bit by bit he was growing less and less worried about it happening anymore. That didn’t mean he still didn’t have nightmares sometimes, but they weren’t as often as they used to be. He was happy not to be _bone_ tired all the time anymore. Not that he didn’t still pull all-nighters sometimes, working on some project or another by himself or with Alphys.

The most frustrating project he worked on, besides helping Alphys with the Amalgamates so they could eventually live a normal life, was that darn Machine… he knew he shouldn’t mess with it… shouldn’t even touch it… but he couldn’t help it… he hated not knowing what something did… even with knowing who specifically built it. It didn’t matter it was the creation of the creep that got erased from existence by falling into the CORE. If he got the thing working, a feat the other had never managed, it would be like one last middle-finger to the piece of work that made most of his life a living hell. No one else had to know it, not that anyone remembered who he was anyway. Erasing yourself from the universe kinda does that to a person. Sans, of all people, was the last person in the world to shed a tear over the guy. Granted he had made life easier for Monsterkind while they were trapped in the Underground… they just didn’t know the lengths the ‘Good Doctor’ did to achieve them… not like Sans did… personally and painfully. He had plenty of nightmare fuel from those experiences to make up for no longer having the mess with the kid and that ‘demon’ to add to it.

As far as Papyrus knew, Sans had a lab on one side of the basement and the other side was the laundry room. It just wasn’t where he kept ‘The Machine’ which he kept in a hidden bunker just in case. He’d act like he went to his little lab and lock the door, only to shortcut to the hidden location. His little bro and Alphys didn’t need to know about the thing and he didn’t need something going wrong and having it explode around anyone he cared for. The bunker was under a section of property he had purchased early on. As much as he loved living with his bro and making sure he was happy, he wasn’t always comfortable being near so many humans like Papyrus was. The heavily wooded property had an old dilapidated cabin or something that was going to be torn down by the city as it was in the middle of nowhere and left to rot by the old owner… something about tax evasion. At some point decades in the past, some business minded Human from out of state thought the area would be popular with hikers and climbing enthusiasts being it was near a mountain… but he didn’t do any further research on the area and had no clue that most Humans preferred to avoid the supposedly ‘cursed’ Mt. Ebott. It had defaulted to the city and they just wanted to be rid of it after having it for so long with no buyers. Sans got a good deal on it with the promise not to give them any more creepy looks and to leave them alone.

He fixed up what looked like a shed or one room house for a maintenance worker to live in that wasn’t as damaged so he had somewhere quiet to stay when his anxiety towards the Humans got too much for him. He had built the bunker underneath and connected a ventilation shaft from it to go through the fireplace and connected chimney. That way if the machine started blowing smoke, it just looked like he was simply using the fireplace. Just because he didn’t have any lungs, didn’t mean he enjoyed his chest cavity and skull being filled with acrid smoke and the smell of melted wiring. Besides, he was too lazy to mess with the main building since this was just enough for him and his ‘project’. He couldn’t remember if he ever even bothered to actually look at it after he found the shed first. Not that he couldn’t just go to their old home in Snowden, but he liked the fact that it was far enough away from light pollution that he had a nice clear view of the stars. He found a large tree nearby that he was able to build a treehouse of sorts on. It wasn’t really a house as there wasn’t a roof… or walls, but he had anchored a storage box filled with some blankets, pillows, snacks, and a telescope to it. That way he had a clear view without any obstructions and didn’t have to worry about something blowing away in a bad storm when he wasn’t there.

¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ 

Some nights, like tonight, he just came out here for stargazing and clearing his mind, not actually planning on working on anything. His white eyelights twinkling in the dark just as bright as the stars themselves as he looked at the clear night sky. Stretching his bones with a loud and embarrassing ‘pop’, he got up, put his stuff back in the box, shoved his hands back in the pockets of his cornflower blue zip-up hoodie, and then took a shortcut back to the bunker. He was glad he had already eaten dinner with Papyrus and tucked him in for the night. No matter how old he got, they both still enjoyed the nightly ritual when they could. At least he knew that Paps was safe and he wouldn’t get interrupted while he worked. He hadn’t planned on working on the Machine tonight, but a new idea had come to him while his mind wandered looking up at the night sky. He needed to test it out before he forgot it or chickened out of the crazy idea. No fully worked out ‘normal’ plans seemed to work, so why not a half-baked crazy one. The only type of magic he could detect from it was void magic, so what would happen if he used a quick shortcut within close range while it was turned on. Incredibly stupid and risky with his pitifully low HP or HoPe… basically health points, but it’s not like he didn’t have magic to spare… just no endurance to use it…

Rolling his eyelights, he thought _thanks for that ‘doc’._ With a glowing blue flare of his left eyelight, he turned the offensive machine on and immediately went to take a shortcut a step to the right. That was the plan anyway… half-baked as it was… _mebby i shoulda let that plan bake a bit longer…_ he thought as the void surrounded him just as the machine made a very worrying sound. _that can’t be good…_ He should’ve popped back into the room in a fraction of a second, but here he was, floating aimlessly in the void. _and here i thought i could a **void** something like this…welp… better **cut** this visit **short** … _He could feel the faint tug of the machine on his magic like it was far away, but before he could act upon it, he could sense something else. Whatever it was, it was close by and didn’t seem to radiate any negative intent. He turned his head and twisted his body to look around the vast nothingness as you couldn’t exactly walk around without any ground under your feet. He noticed the tug from the machine was starting to get a little weaker. He had to act fast, twisting a bit more so he could aim his control hand towards the drifting form, he focused his blue magic to hopefully grab their SOUL. He heard the familiar ‘ping’ of his magic and pulled it towards himself as he split his focus on the fading tug that would get him back to the bunker.

 _if this works i know i’m gonna be **bone** tired after this… i’m gonna be rewarding myself with a nap for a week… mebby two if i’m feelin’ generous… _He tried to pull the form towards himself as fast as he could, but the void tended to have its own rules as far as anything considering proper physics were concerned. If it wasn’t for the fact that whatever it was had a monster SOUL, hadn’t dusted yet, and still had a magic signature weak as it was, he would’ve continued to believe nothing could survive here. Being a Skeleton Monster helped slow down the harsh effects of the void, but even _he_ could only take so much. He didn’t want to find out what happened when someone got trapped there permanently. Going crazy from the lack of… anything… would be the least of his worries.

He had to make it back for Paps’ sake… he finally started taking _real_ cooking lessons and his spaghetti was a lot more edible now. He remembered how much he had wanted to dunk on the random Human that had said his cooking tasted bad… until they nervously added that Human’s had a different style of cooking and it tasted different, so he should learn how to cook that way and then they would be able to eat it. Either they couldn’t take Paps’ ‘kicked puppy’ face or they saw the serious look on Sans’ face with his extinguished eyelights. Either way it got him motivated to make his food more ‘Human friendly’… and edible. Now if only Undyne would get the same idea… without burning the place down. His non-existent stomach was growling with all the thoughts of food… that or the magic depletion… it already felt like he was at this for an hour. He could really go for some of Grillby’s ‘burg and fries… with plenty of ketchup of course.

He didn’t know how much longer he could keep this up before passing out. Once the mystery Monster was close enough for him to physically grab, he could book it back out of the void. It was too risky hoping that just holding their SOUL with his magic would be enough to bring them out with him. He could almost swear he could sense another even fainter SOUL within the vicinity of the first one, but it was almost like it wasn’t there at all or he was sensing two of the same thing. Whatever it was, it seemed the same distance as the one he was ‘pulling’ and getting closer with it. That was good enough for him… he just wanted to get the heck outta there as soon as magically possible. He could tell he couldn’t keep this constant level of magic up for too much longer, though. If it came between getting out of the void alone or getting trapped here with them… well… he didn’t have the metaphorical heart to abandon his little bro.

The ‘Judge’ suddenly started raging in his head and insisting he didn’t leave them in the void or their dust would be on his hands… not in exact words but the Intent was there… like a jackhammer. It wasn’t like he needed more incentive from the possession, or whatever the annoying thing was, to help them or something… it was just a last case scenario type of thought. _i might be physically heartless being a skeleton monster, but i ain’t **heartless** … maybe you should be a bit more useful and… y’know… actually help for once? _The cyan colored magic flaring from his left eye socket started swirling with yellow/gold magic as the Monster started getting closer a bit faster than before. The only other response he received from it was a pulse of Intent that projected the verdict of /INNOCENT/ in regards to the unidentified Monster. _huh…. uhhh… that’s good to know and… thanks?_ Sans was officially chalking up today as the weirdest day ever. It totally beat out the first time he discovered the concept of memes on something called Tik Tok.

Usually ‘The Judge’ would completely take him over when the King needed irrefutable truth that a monster committed a serious crime against another… be it Monster or now Human… though it wasn’t very often as Monsters were not normally prone to violent acts toward another without a reason like self-defense. He was always exhausted afterwards and the King only called upon it when absolutely necessary because of it. Thankfully he never had to act out any punishment as the King would just lock them up if they were truly ‘guilty’. If needed, Sans could call upon it enough to CHECK if someone was dangerous along with their STATS. If needed he could see more than just their name and HP like a normal CHECK could. Mainly their LV or Level of Violence and EXP or Execution Points, which would be proof that they have the capacity to kill and the fact that they already had. It had been handy to know when the kid/demon was on a Genocide run. Any other Monster had a limited CHECK ability that only showed the other’s Name, HP, and some ‘flavor text’… kind of like a normal introduction, Monster style. It was considered incredibly rude and indecent to do a CHECK without the other person’s permission. The Judge didn’t really follow those rules and Sans didn’t generally do it on a whim, just when it involved the safety of others or if something was seriously wrong with said Monster.

Sans realized he had started to doze off, but still had ahold of the SOUL and the Monster was nearly close enough to grab. His eyelights were getting hazy though from the drain on his magic so he couldn’t get a good look at them. He could feel the Mana created sweat dripping down his skull as he was getting to his limit. As soon as his phalanges had a solid grip on their arm… leg… whatever it was… he cut off his blue magic and focused everything he had left that was safe to spare on finishing the shortcut back to the bunker. He didn’t need to use so much that his limbs came loose… he didn’t want this experiment to cost him an _arm and a leg_. Just before The Judge went away, Sans could sense one last bit of Intent from it that was projected regarding the Monster… /PROTECTION/. The second the two of them landed on the concrete floor of the bunker, Sans barely managed to shut the Machine down as dark smoke began to come from it. He couldn’t even make a coherent thought before he completely passed out immediately after, otherwise he would’ve been a bit concerned about the fact that…

he was unconscious…

while dangerously low on magic…

without any healing items or food…

or any way to possibly get to any…

with no one knowing he wasn’t home…

for an unknown amount of time…

lying on the floor of a sealed bunker…

that nobody knew existed…

on a property out in the middle of nowhere…

that nobody knew he even purchased…

said bunker had no access inside besides teleportation…

with an unknown and unconscious Monster…

in which said Monster may or may not be Falling Down…

and a still smoking machine of unknown purpose…

_What could go wrong?_


	2. to KETCHUP or to CATsup

Sans slowly started to regain consciousness as he could still feel the utterly drained state of his magic. He didn’t think he could even move a single phalange… and that wasn’t just the lazy part of him saying that. He couldn’t quite remember where he was or for how long. _what time is it anyway… hope paps ain’t lookin’ for me… i gotta find **me** first…_ Attempting to open an eye socket, he hazily saw that he was laying on the ground next to that stupid Machine… _that might explain a few things… feel like ‘m fergettin’ somethin’…_ he could hear a soft ‘hissing’ sound as well as smell some lingering smoke, most likely from the Machine, but it wasn’t that strong and it didn’t look like it was on fire or anything. _good ta know…_ _don’t have a **burning** desire to get too **hot** down here… _His eyelights were still pretty hazy and he was still too tired to focus them much. It was also hard to concentrate when he just felt like falling back to sleep. Fighting off his exhaustion, he attempted to at least sit up without falling over.

**_MRRRRRRAAAAAAAUUUUUUWWW… HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS…_ **

Sans immediately froze as his eye sockets went wide. _…thaaaaaat wasn’t the machine…_ He still couldn’t see very clearly, but he definitely heard what sounded like a **_very_** angry cat. However it got in there with him, it was not happy to be there or anywhere near him. He grinned and tried not to look intimidating “…uhhhhh… nice kitty?” He tried to look towards it veeeeeery slowly.

**_GRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOWWWWLLLLLLLLLLLLL…_ **

He couldn’t help but flinch as it sounded even more ticked off at him. As he finally got a look at it, his hazy eyelights turned to pinpricks. A few feet from him looked like a very small, very angry, very… **skeletal** … cat… that seemed like it was barely standing and staying conscious… with two very angrily glaring purple slitted eyelights and a very tiny, purple highlighted monster SOUL. … _leave it to something with a perseverance trait to be stubborn enough to survive the void…_

**_HIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSS…._ **

Suddenly he realized that there was something or someone around his size lying behind the skeletal cat that looked only slightly bigger than a kitten. “…are you protecting someone?” His memory finally coming back to him, he realized that this explained why he swore he sensed two SOULS at the time of rescue. _it must’ve been curled up with other monster_.

The Skele-cat huffed and continued to hiss and growl at the offending Skeleton Monster with unblinking eyelights.

He couldn’t get a good look at the Monster he had saved as they were curled up in the opposite direction and hidden by their oversized, but worn-out clothes. The hood from their dirty, oversized brown sweatshirt covered their head completely. He put his hands up in a placating manner and stayed low to the ground. “…it’s okay, buddy… i’m the one that saved you two from that dark, empty place… yer safe now…”

The skele-cat looked at him suspiciously, but started hissing and growling a little quieter.

Sans could tell his magic was still too drained to try and shortcut out, let alone take any passengers. He very slowly and carefully went to check his inventory while trying not to look away from the skeletal cat. He didn’t know if it was sentient, though it seemed like it was starting to trust him just a tiny bit. He hoped he had some kind of healing item on him to regain some of his lost magic and to offer to his two ‘guests’. That and he needed enough magic to at least do a basic check to make sure the unconscious Monster was not at risk of Falling Down. The two tiny purple slits followed his every move as he checked his inventory.

The little skele-cat continued to stare at Sans with unblinking eyes and its skeletal tail twitching in an irritated manner.

Sans spoke calmly, as he looked through his unorganized inventory that was half filled with trash he was too lazy to dispose of properly. He wished he wasn’t so terrible and awkward at Projecting Intentions, not like his bro who excelled at it. He wasn’t about to try it and risk messing it up so bad that he made things worse. “…i’m just tryin’ to see if i have any food on me… that’s all… not gonna hurt anyone…” He wished he could get a closer look at what he was dealing with, but that had to wait until the feline ‘bodyguard’ was appeased. _…hmmm… buncha magic infused ketchup packets from Grillby’s… that’d work for me… thought i still had some monster candy on me… ahhh… found a ‘dog… that might work…_

The skele-cat watched the Skeleton Monster pull something out. It started sniffing the air and saw the Monster break something in half and slowly set one piece on the ground. Once the Monster pulled away, the tired skele-cat took a few shaky steps toward what smelled like food, not looking away from the strange Monster for more than a second.

“…it’s okay… it’s just food… bet’cher pretty hungry… the other half is for your friend…” He sucked down the few ketchup packets he had, hoping it was enough for now. He wanted to hold off on anything else he found in case the unconscious Monster needed it more. _if i can get enough magic back to at least do a CHECK, i’ll feel a little better…_ “…dunno if you can understand me, but the name’s sans. i’d _paws_ and shake your hand, but i can’t be _claws_ you don’t exactly got any…” he finished with a wink.

The little skele-cat’s eye sockets narrowed a moment as it gave an annoyed huff and started quickly eating the offered food. Its tail twitching a bit less now even though it still kept watch of the possible threat.

As it ate, Sans tried to get a better look at the cat… it pretty much looked like the skeleton of a normal surface cat he had seen in a biology book, except the head. The shape of its head was a bit off… but in a familiar way that he couldn’t figure out… as well as a crack on the front of its lower jaw. He saw it stick out a cute little purple ecto-tongue and lick its mouth with a little purr as a very faint purple ecto-body began to form, making it look much more like an ‘actual’ cat. Being able to see its ecto-ears made it easier to understand its mood and intentions. “did ya like that? once i get my magic back, i can get ya a skele _ton_ more if ya want.”

It gave him another quick glare and relaxed its body a little more. The skele-cat shifted its attention to the other half of the salty tasting food thing that was in the Skeleton’s hand. Then it pointedly looked at the Monster it was protecting, then back again while placing a paw on the ground where the initial food was placed.

Sans scratched the side of his skull a moment. “…ummmm… you want the food for your friend, buy ya don’t want _me_ to give it to them?” The quick huff and smack of its paw on the floor seemed to be its answer. “…i’ll take that as a ‘yes’… here ya go.” He slowly placed the other half of the ‘dog on the floor and backed away like he did the first time.

Looking at him cautiously, it picked up the offered food with its mouth and took it over to the curled up form on the floor. As soon as it laid the food by the Monster’s head, it gently pawed at its face and quietly mewled while still trying to watch what the other Monster… what the ‘sans’ was doing.

There was a slight twitch from the curled up monster and a quiet groan. _they must be startin’ to wake up… that’s a good sign… wonder if i got any bottles of water for them too…_ Sans quietly took another look at his inventory while glancing up often to check on the other two. Finding two bottles and an old, but clean coffee mug, he pulled them out and poured a third of the one bottle into the mug for the skele-cat. “…here’s some water for ya, bud.” He finished the water from that bottle to show it that it was safe to drink.

Eyeing the mug, the prone Monster, and back again, the skele-cat slowly crept over to the offered drink. Making sure the Mons… the ‘sans’ had moved back, it sniffed the liquid. Realizing it was just water, it quickly lapped it up with its little ecto-tongue while still staring at the ‘sans’. Its ecto-ears twitching back and forth, listening to the Monster behind it as well the one ahead. Quickly finishing and licking its mouth, it realized there was another bottle of the same liquid sitting by the container. Swatting it over with its paw, the skele-cat rolled the bottle over to the slowly waking Monster.

Chuckling at the skele-cat, he tried to see if the other Monster was waking up more or at least ate something. He still couldn’t move any closer without getting more angry ‘hissing’ and ‘spitting’ from the cat. He went to check his phone for a moment until he realized there was no reception in the bunker. He at least checked the time and was surprised to see that it was barely even morning. So early that his bro wouldn’t even be up yet for his obscenely early morning jog. He swore he was in the void for a lot longer than that, but again… the void had its own concept of time, too. He put his useless phone away, glad he wasn’t going to have it blowing up with messages or finding out there’s a search party out to find him.

Nudging the prone Monster again, the skele-cat attempted to get their attention about the food and drink. With another weak sound, their mouth opened enough for the skele-cat to push the food in. Being Monster food, it wouldn’t need any chewing and would just dissolve into their body. As the food started to replenish some magic, the Monster slowly opened their eyes, squinting from the bright light in the room. Seeing the happily purring skele-cat, they weakly smiled and attempted to sit up after noticing the bottle of water.

Sans heard the skele-cat make various happy sounding mewls and purrs as the Monster seemed to move a little more. He didn’t want to startle them by greeting them, but he didn’t want to spook them when they found out he was there either. He noticed the skele-cat gave him a glance as the Monster attempted to sit up, nearly falling back over. He twitched a bit, fighting the urge to help them up, but didn’t want to tick off the ‘bodyguard’ either.

Seeing the ‘sans’ start to move towards them, then stop and begin twitching its hands, the skele-cat realized that it wanted to help. So far it did not act violent towards them, only doing helpful things like sharing food and drink… and saving them from the empty dark place. It didn’t think they could’ve survived much longer there before dusting. With a huff, it looked up at the Monster that was sluggishly sitting up and mewled again, nudging at the bottle of water.

Managing to pick up the bottle with their shaking, sleeve-covered hands and opening it, they drank it slowly even though they wanted to gulp it down. They knew enough that doing that would just make them sick from being without any for Stars knew how long. They were glad the small amount of food was enough to stabilize their HP and magic… they couldn’t afford having it drop even further than it already had. As they tipped their head back to get the last of the water, their tattered hood fell back and off of their head. They immediately flinched and went wide-eyed as they heard a ‘gasp’ from someone behind them. Glancing down, they saw a calm look in the eyes of the skele-cat as they tapped their knee with a paw. Turning their head, they looked on in quiet shock at the equally surprised Skeleton Monster on the other side of the room.

Sans stared in disbelief. It was rare for him to be speechless, unless he was trying to discreetly follow someone… not that he really did _that_ anymore… but here he was. Staring wide-eyed at the Monster on the other side of the room… the very _skeletal_ Monster. He and his bro were the only ones left… how was there a Skeleton Monster sitting in the same room as him. “…uhhhhhh… hi?” _…smooth, sans, real smooth…_ He grinned awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his neck and started to blush a bit. He noticed that they had at least shoulder length purple ecto-hair on their head and had the same colored eyelights. Or at least from what he could see since the left side of their… possibly _her_ … face was mostly covered with the opaque ‘hair’. _something tells me that they? her? have a perseverance trait like the cat… gotta be the only way they survived that place… but did they survive more than physically… a place like that can really mess with your head…_

The newly awakened Skeleton Monster turned the rest of the way around, seeing the slightly taller Skeleton Monster staring at her. Blinking a few times to try to steady her eyelights, she tried to greet them… him… back, opening and closing her mouth a few times, but her voice didn’t seem to work. What felt like an eternity without speaking to anyone did that apparently. With a defeated look, she shyly waved at him with her sleeve covered hand before curling in on herself again as she started to notice her surroundings. Trying not to panic, she looked to her small companion for comfort. It immediately jumped into her arms, purring and nuzzling her face as she pet its soft, fur-like ecto body.

Sans could easily recognize the beginning of a panic attack when he saw one, and that was what was happening in front of him. He held his hands up in a friendly manner and spoke calmly and quietly. “…easy there, kiddo… it’s okay… yer not in the void anymore… this machine next to me helped me find you and get you outta there. you’re not trapped if that’s what yer worried about… as soon as my magic replenishes enough, we can all leave and you can eat somethin’ else… or take a nap… it’s just a mattress on the floor, but it’s more comfy than the floor...” Smacking his forehead, he realized he never introduced himself to her… just to the cat. “…i’m sans by the way… are you able to tell me your name?”

She looked at him a little puzzled and then opened and closed her mouth as she tried to speak again, but nothing would come out except a hoarse croak. She looked down sadly and tried not to cry. She pulled the hood of her dirty threadbare sweatshirt back over her head and tried to hide her face, but the pull strings were so worn out that they snapped. Pulling the skele-cat closer, her breathing became more erratic as she tried not to go further into a panic. The room was too small, and bare, and there was a strange machine that looked like something she saw before, and there was no exit, and a strange Monster, and…

The skele-cat screeched and smacked a soft paw on the forehead of the panicking Skeleton before it started butting its head in her face. Purring as loud as it could, it continued to practically grind its face into hers to distract her as best as it could.

Sans sighed and scraped his phalanges down his face, not noticing the flinch from the other Skeleton from the sound. He really needed to get them out of the bunker… it wasn’t helping the strange Skeleton in calming down. He didn’t miss the fact that every time she glanced at the Machine, she had a terrified look on her face. He had a very bad feeling about how she ended up in the void… he just hoped he was wrong. Digging in his inventory again, and cursing his laziness, he tried to find something else to eat. He didn’t really have time to wait around for his magic to replenish naturally… he had a feeling the void had a hand in why it was taking so long. Finding a Monster Candy, he popped it in his mouth, letting it work its, heh heh heh… _magic_. He really needed to do a CHECK on her to make sure there weren’t any lingering effects from the void that might be detrimental towards her health. Feeling the Candy do its work, he thought it might be better on the scared Skeleton if he asked her first. _first time for that one… i’m so proud of me…_ Clearing his non-existent throat to get her attention, he calmly asked. “…hey, kiddo… is it okay if I do a CHECK on you? i don’t need to pull you into a confrontation or anything like that… i just want ta make sure your hp is at a safe level and that way i can get your name while i’m at it… that okay with you?”

The shorter Skeleton froze a moment from part of what she heard until she realized he was just trying to make sure she was all right and it was a smart way to at least tell him her name… not that she liked it. She didn’t understand how he could do a CHECK like that though… not that anything made much sense at the moment, like the other Skeleton’s name for example. She quietly sniffled and slightly nodded her head.

Seeing the slight nod, he thought a moment. _…should prob’ly shortcut us back up to the cabin first before doing the CHECK... don’t need to run outta steam before we’re outta here… think I got some snacks up there anyway if we need ‘em…_ “hey, kiddo… i think i’m good to go for getting us outta this room… i gotta special shortcut to get us upstairs… it’s a little cabin where you can rest and i can get us something more filling ta eat if ya want... that sound okay ta you? it’s completely safe and no-one is anywhere nearby… it’s like my little secret hideaway i go to relax… nice an peaceful.”

She shook a little, but nodded slightly again. She still didn’t understand what was going on or where she was, but what he explained sounded better than where she was now. Granted where she was before that was a million times worse, but this was… progress?

Sans smiled warmly and let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Next was the hard part. “…now i need ta explain somethin’ first… i’m gonna have ta hold your hand or arm or somethin’ else solid to take you with me. as long as you keep ahold of your little… friend… they’ll go with us… is that okay? yer little friend ain’t gonna attack me for going near ya, right?” Seeing the nearly imperceptible nod and hearing the huff from the cat, he held out his left hand to the Skeleton. He didn’t want to make her stand up since she was still pretty weak and unsteady looking. “…you don’t need to stand up, i can do this the way you’re sitting now.”

She started to hold her right hand out until she realized he must be left handed. She changed to holding out her left hand instead and nervously went to hold his. She mostly kept her head down to block some of the bright light, so she was glad he couldn’t see the faint purple blush that was crossing her face.

He gently took ahold of her hand, noticing a slight flinch, but chuckling at the fact that she had started to give him her right one. _must be a righty… just hope she doesn’t have a panic attack mid jump from going through the void again…_ He couldn’t help but notice that her hand was wrapped in bandages, though they were coming loose and very dirty as they poked out of the overly long sleeve. _That must be why she keeps trying to keep them hidden in her sleeves…_ “…okay… now i just need you to two ta close your eyes for just a little bit… it’s a secret entrance for a reason…” He added with a wink and a grin. “…i’ll let ya know when you can open them… ya got ‘em closed, kiddo?”

She closed her eye sockets, held her breath, and nodded her head. She felt him gently squeeze her hand as she suddenly felt weightless for a moment like she was back in the void again. Before she could panic, she felt the tiniest drop as gravity came back. She also realized she was sitting on something soft and springy and the air was much fresher.

“…you can open your eyes back up now, kiddo.” He was pretty tired at this point, but he needed to take care of a few things first. He let go of her hand and told her “…you can lie down and relax if ya want while i look for some more food and something ta drink.” The whole cabin was only one room… _i think the humans call it an efficiency…_ though it did have a very small closed off bathroom, but the place was good enough for what he needed it for. He quickly pulled out his cell phone and shot his bro a text before he realized he wasn’t home.

 **punmaster:** had 2 take care of something @ lab

 **punmaster:** b back l8r 2day

 **coolest bro:** AS MUCH AS I DISLIKE YOUR LAZY TEXTING SKILLS, I THANK YOU FOR THE INFORMATION.   
I SHALL SEE YOU LATER TODAY. I AM LEAVING FOR MY MORNING JOG. I WISH YOU A NICE DAY, BROTHER.

 **punmaster:** u 2 bro

 _not exactly lying… didn’t tell him which lab i’m at…_ Sans turned the lamp in the room to a lower setting, noticing she was not used to the bright light due to being in the dark void for Stars knew how long. Then checked the hardly stocked little kitchenette for something else for them to eat and drink. Shortcuts didn’t drain much magic when it was just him, but passengers took a lot more out of his magic and stamina. He found a few more ‘dogs, some bags of chisps, a bottle of ketchup for himself, and filled a cup and a bowl with water from the sink. Using his blue magic, he brought what he found back over to the waiting Skeleton. “…sorry I haven’t cleaned in a while… here’s some stuff ta eat. i can get us somethin’ a lot tastier once the place opens, but this will help for now.” Setting everything down, he turned around and walked over to a small wooden chest. He pulled out some fresh sheets and brought them over to the bare mattress. Setting them down he added “when yer ready ta take a nap, I have some clean sheets for ya to use… i don’t mind usin’ the couch so ya have some privacy.”

She looked at the worn out green couch that looked far from comfortable and nodded. She was glad he noticed the light was hurting her eyes and had dimmed the lights a little. She carefully picked up one of the ‘dogs and started to eat. It was a bit stale, but food was food right now. She grimaced a bit as she saw him drink what looked like ketchup, straight from the bottle. She didn’t miss his quiet chuckle at her reaction, and continued to eat.

 _guess she don’t do ketchup_ He though with a shrug and a chuckle. What bothered him was how carefully she picked up the ‘dog and the fact that she flinched a bit when she did. He really needed to check under those bandages, let alone put some fresh ones on with some healing salve. He watched as the little skele-cat lapped up the water with its tiny ecto-tongue. _heh… so cute…_ He noticed its body language was a lot more relaxed even though it still kept staring at him while they ate. Its cat-like eyelights weren’t as narrowed and angry, it looked more like it was just being cautious now and not defensive like earlier. He still couldn’t get a good look at the Skeleton, as she was still huddled up in her oversized clothes with her hood up. From what he could tell she was smaller than him and what little he could see of her bones looked an unhealthy color and very frail. Most likely from malnourishment, but was it from the void or something else.

She noticed him staring at her and her feline friend as she ate. It made her feel uncomfortable, but he was probably trying to make sure she was all right. She was starting to feel a bit sleepy now that she had finally had a full non-existent stomach and rubbed at her eye sockets.

Seeing that she was getting tired, he picked up the sheets “i’d like ta put the clean sheets on the mattress before ya go to sleep… if you’re too weak to move off a moment, i can pick you up with blue magic…” He immediately stopped talking when he saw her very obvious finch at the mention of him using blue magic on her. “okay… i got it… can you shift off by yourself or do you need me ta help you… without magic?”

She very slowly shifted off the mattress, thankful it was on the floor and not a frame. She watched him toss the beat up pillow and balled up sheets to the couch. Then he put the clean sheets on along with a soft looking blanket and a fresh pillow with a case. Once he was done, she crawled back on the mattress and curled up under the soft comforting blanket with a content sigh. She breathed in the unfamiliar, but pleasant smell of clean laundry. She hoped he would be nice enough to let her get cleaned up later… she couldn’t remember the last time she was able to get clean. The mattress was old but it still felt like she was lying on a cloud.

Sans smiled as he heard the tired, but happy sigh from her. “…if it’s okay with you… i’d like to do that CHECK before ya fall asleep.” Seeing the slight nod as she fell asleep, he felt the familiar magic flow through his left eyelight as he readied himself for whatever he would find. It still didn’t prepare him for what it revealed…

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**Sanserif ~~Gaster~~**

**LV** 1  
 **HP** 0.5 / 1

 **ATK** 1  
 **DEF** 1  
 **EXP** 0

*called a ‘waste of genetic material’  
*she’s terrified of being alone  
*she’d like to be called serif


	3. needing a helpful HAND

If Sans was a Human, he would’ve paled at what the CHECK revealed. He fought the urge to just start swearing as loud as he could and forced himself to look at the CHECK again in case he read it wrong…

**Sanserif ~~Gaster~~**

**LV** 1  
 **HP** 0.5 / 1

 **ATK** 1  
 **DEF** 1  
 **EXP** 0

*called a ‘waste of genetic material’  
*she’s terrified of being alone  
*she’d like to be called serif

Why was her last name the same as that piece of trash… being a Skeleton Monster with that last name was even more unnerving… and her first name and Stats… so close to his own…

His thoughts were running a mile a minute with more questions than he thought he’d have to this puzzle. He didn’t notice the sound of soft breathing as the strange Skeleton fell asleep. He also didn’t notice the skele-cat glaring at him as he looked at them with a blank look on his face.

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Sans woke with a start, sitting up quickly and almost falling off the green couch. There was a reason he preferred sleeping on a mattress on the floor… not as far to fall. It took him a moment to remember why he was there and not on the bed. He didn’t remember lying down either… _messed with the machine… ended up in the void… found another skele… ton…_ Opening his eye sockets wide, he looked over to the mattress and saw that his ‘guest’ was still asleep. _sooooo… that actually happened…_ Standing up, he quietly took the few steps required to check up on them.

She was still under the covers with most of her head covered and the skele-cat was curled up against her and purring away. It opened up an eye socket and glared at him a moment, waiting for him to make a move. Seeing that he wasn’t doing anything, it huffed and went back to sleep.

Checking the time on his phone, Sans saw he had slept for a few hours though thankfully there were no messages. _must’ve worn myself out more than i thought… not that i don’t love a good nap… just not when i need ta be keepin’ an eye socket out for someone…_ Stretching out a bit, he focused on his magic a bit to see if it was mostly back to what was normal for him. Pulling his phone back out, he sent his bro a quick text so he didn’t have to worry.

 **punmaster:** don’t no if i’ll b bak b4 dinner

 **punmaster:** let u no if i will l8r

After a few moments, he received a response.

 **coolest bro:** I HOPE YOU ARE NOT TOO FOCUSED WORKING TO EAT. I DO HOPE YOU MAKE IT BACK FOR DINNER BUT I AM GLAD THAT YOU ARE BUSY WITH SOMETHING AND NOT LAYZING ABOUT.

 **punmaster:** i 8 sumthng b side kechup this morning

 **punmaster:** getng lunch soon

 **punmaster:** cant w8 2 show u when redy

 **punmaster:** u gunna love it a ton

 **coolest bro:** NO!

 **punmaster:** a skeleton

 **coolest bro:** I AM GOING TO GO NOW BEFORE YOU TORMENT ME WITH MORE PUNS. PLEASE TAKE CARE AND I WILL LEAVE DINNER FOR YOU IN CASE YOU MAKE IT HOME IN TIME.

 **punmaster:** thnks bro ur the best

He felt bad doing that to his bro, but he didn’t know if his ‘guest’ would be ready to meet him yet. She seemed pretty scared and he didn’t know how trusting she was. Since he was done worrying about his bro, and trolling him with the truth disguised as a pun, he checked his phone again to see if it was time for Grillby’s to open for the day. _she’s prob’ly gonna want ta clean up and put some fresh clothes on…_ He took a sniff of his own shirt and shrugged before looking to see if he had any random clean clothes lying around anywhere. Not having any luck, he grabbed the dirty clothes and towels he needed to wash and shortcut to his bedroom back home, knowing Papyrus would be out this time of day.

She seemed like she was smaller than him, so he dug around for any old clothes that didn’t fit him anymore. When they moved to the surface, he never bothered to go through his old clothes and just shoved everything in a bag. Some of those clothes had been shoved in a bag way back when they first moved to Snowden. Throwing anything he could find in yet another trash bag along with the rest he brought, he took them to the washing machine. He wasn’t sure how clean any of it was considering how long it was sitting balled up somewhere. It was a good thing these weren’t ‘normal’ Human made machines, but made by Alphys… and himself… he didn’t want to find out it sprouted arms and a wheel like a certain other invention of hers. He didn’t have time to wait almost 2 hours for it to be done and at least all the kinks were worked out by now. Not spontaneously combusting was always a solid plus… he was glad that neither his hoodie nor Paps scarf were in that test load.

Pulling out his phone again, he brought up a hidden app he had, that even Alphys didn’t know about, which showed him a live camera feed of the hidden lab. He switched to a different feed which showed the inside of the cabin. He hated to spy on her, but he didn’t want her to panic if she woke to find she was alone. Her CHECK told him as much and especially depending on how long she was in the void… yeah… not letting that happen. He remembered waking up to enough nightmares of being the only one left from a Genocide run. He turned the motion detector on for that camera so he didn’t feel like he was staring at her like a creep… he remembered Alphys used to when they were still Underground with all those hidden cameras everywhere.

While he waited for the wash to finish, he dug out a phone charger… he had a bad habit of forgetting to charge it or saying he’ll charge it later. He went through is social media feeds to pass the time… including trolling his brother’s… he always wondered if Paps knew it was him or not and just let him do it anyway. Just like when he complained about his puns while hiding a smile and denying it. _wonder if she likes puns… her cat didn’ seem ta… i’ll have ta take her ta pick out her own clothes when she’s feelin’ better… hope this stuff is good enough fer now…_ He twitched a second when the washing machine dinged it was done. Switching it out, he sat back down and checked the live feed again, giving a sigh of relief that she and the cat were still sleeping.

He hated to wake her, but he thought it might be good to let her get cleaned up before lunch. He got up and grabbed a clean trash bag, making his way to the linen closet _humans have weird names fer things…_ He put a fresh set of sheets, a pillowcase, and a blanket in to change the bed after she got up. _it’d be dumb fer her ta get cleaned up and then lay back down on stuff she got dirty… speakin’ of dirty… she has ‘hair’… does it get washed like a humans… does it need brushed… her hands seem t’be hurt… does she need help getting washed up…_ He started blushing at that train of thought as he shortcut to the bathroom, digging out anything that Frisk used when she stayed over as well as some medical supplies. _the kid ain’t exactly ‘girly’ an’ i hope they don’t mind sharin’… at least this should give serif some options ‘till she can pick out her own…_

As he shortcut back to the laundry room, he refused to admit he was a bit excited about helping her out. Maybe it was just his stupid curiosity getting the better of him. This was new and not an aggravating puzzle like the darn Machine… granted it was still disturbing what the CHECK revealed, but there had to be a reason for it. His mind ran theory after theory until he was startled again by the alarm on the dryer going off. He almost forgot he wanted to grab a few Monster Candies and did so before dumping the clean clothes in the bag with the fresh sheets and grabbing the shopping bag of stuff from the bathroom, then shortcutting back to the cabin.

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Serif started to wake up to the sound of an unfamiliar, but calming voice talking to her. She still felt exhausted but her body was telling her she needed to eat soon. Opening her eye sockets a bit, she could make out a blurry blue and white form sitting on the floor nearby. _that’s right… someone… another skeleton… but that can’t be… he found me… i’m not in the void… gave me food… not sleeping on floor… what’s he saying?_

Sans could see her eyelights… or at least the one that wasn’t covered by her ‘hair’… was hazy and unfocused. _must still be low on magic…_ “hey… uh… serif… can ya hear me? Nod if ya understand me…”

She blinked a few times before nodding her head a little and trying to slowly sit up. She paused a moment to wait out the dizzy spell she started to have. When she opened her eye sockets again, she realized he placed a cup of water next to her. She carefully took it between her sleeve covered hands and took a big drink. Feeling better and a lot less dizzy she realized she must’ve been dehydrated. Glancing down she smiled when she saw he had a placed a bowl of water on the floor for her friend as well.

Sans watched her closely as she picked up the mug… that same flinch as she tried to grip it just like earlier. She kept her hands covered so she had to be hiding her injury… was it shameful to her or did she think it was something bad. “is yer voice still messed up?” He saw her try to speak again, almost making some kind of sound this time, and shake her head. “…’s okay… i’ll just try ta stick ta ‘yes’ an’ ‘no’ questions…” Rubbing the back of his neck and blushing a bit he fumbled with his next question “…uhhh… so… i dug out some old clothes an’ washed them up real quick so ya’d have somethin’ clean ta wear… i… uhhh… thought ya might like ta take a bath or somethin’… that sound good to ya?”

She nodded and tried not to blush in embarrassment… at least he was just as nervous as she was. She realized he handed something else to her and looked at him confused.

“ohhh… uhhh… ya never have monster candy before?” He saw her shake her head. “it’s like a treat but it’s like concentrated healin’ magic… doesn’t do much if yer hungry… it should help with the weakness, minor injuries, and help yer hp level.” He unwrapped it and handed it out to her again. _fergot she might have trouble with openin’ it…_ He saw her hold her cupped, but covered, hands out and he rolled it into them. “don’ need ta chew… it dissolves in yer mouth…”

With a nod, she popped the ball shaped food into her mouth and smiled a little. It was a bit overly sweet, but tasted better than anything she ever had… granted she was never given anything but bland food. She hummed as it dissolved on her ecto-tongue and she felt the healing magic wash over her. She felt much better and thought she might be able to get up. Hesitating a moment, she got to her knees without too much trouble and began to stand.

Sans watched her slowly stand up and was ready to help her if she needed. He reminded himself that she seemed uncomfortable about him suggesting using Blue Magic on her. “i’m right here if ya start ta fall… as long as yer cat don’t attack me if _paws_ able…” He watched for a reaction to the pun and saw a shy grin and a twitch like she tried to chuckle.

Serif almost missed the pun as she concentrated on standing up on her own. She was fine until she tried to take a step, as she started wobbling, Sans held out his arms to give her some support. She looked down as she blushed again, realizing that as short as he seemed, she was still shorter. She felt him help steady her and they slowly made their way to the bathroom. The skele-cat walking close by and glaring at the Skeleton helping her.

Once they made it to the bathroom, he had her sit down on the closed toilet seat so he could start the bathwater. He was glad it was right next to the tub so she didn’t have to go far to get in. “i’m gonna fill the tub for ya… ummm…” He grabbed a small bucket that he used to rinse with sometimes and filled it with some of the hot water. “let me know if this is okay… uhhh… nod if it’s good… shake if it’s too hot.” She carefully pulled her sleeve up enough to put a phalange in, nodding with a smile. “good… didn’ want it too hot for ya…” After filling the tub halfway he added some kind of bath bomb that Alphys made him. It was supposed to help with his poor bone density or something and fix minor cracks. Whatever it was it felt good to soak in and left his bones feeling less gritty. When his HP was low, sometimes he would have a fine layer of Dust on his bones or at least have a gritty feeling to them. It didn’t happen very often anymore being on the Surface, but he had a feeling she was going to need it.

She watched him throw some kind of ball in the water and listened as he tried to explain what it was. It made her less nervous that he explained everything he was doing or about to do. She still didn’t understand where she was, how there was another Skeleton Monster, and why his name was close to her own. There were a lot more things running through her head, but those were some of the big ones. She nodded that she was okay with what he did and almost missed that he said something again.

“ya with me?” He noticed she spaced out a bit again _she’s prob’ly so confused… who knows what bein’ in the void like that did to her physically and mentally…_ Seeing that she was focused again, he repeated himself “There’s some different soaps so you can see what one you like… umm… i didn’t know if you needed… shampoo for yer… uh… hair… it’s there if you need it… there’s different kinds of things ta scrub with and get between the bones… even little ones for between your phalanges…” He fought the need to blush again “ummm… there’s towels ta dry off with and over here is a bunch of clothes you can try on… use anythin’ ya want… heh… i’mgonnagonowcauseyouprobl’ydon’wantmehelpin’ya…” He quickly shortcut out of the bathroom without needing to open the door and let the warm air out.

She didn’t miss how much his skull glowed blue as he pulled his hood up, mumbled out the last part, and disappeared in a flash. She would’ve liked to have checked that the door was locked, but since he could just pop in and out like that it didn’t matter much. As embarrassed as he seemed, she hoped he would give her some privacy… not that she liked being alone anymore, but at least she wasn’t completely alone. Petting the skele-cat a moment, she carefully got ready to take a long overdue soak.

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Sans quietly bounced his skull off the coffee table a few times as he grumbled to himself. _why did i have ta sound so stupid… she’s gonna think i’m a creep or somethin’… what if I scared her… or she falls… or can’t get in the tub… or can’t get out… she can’t yell fer help… how do i know if she needs any help…_ He blushed again at that thought and went to the kitchen to see if he had any ketchup left. Being successful, he finished off the half bottle he found and started making a small grocery list of sorts. He didn’t know if she wanted to stay here for now, but he didn’t really keep the small cabin stocked with more than a few snacks. He didn’t know what she might like so he’d just get some random stuff for her to try. At the very least he was going to Grillby’s to get burgers and fries… if she didn’t like it, more for him. He also put fresh sheets on the bed and a clean blanket on the couch, putting anything else that was dirty in a bag to wash later.

He didn’t want to leave until she was done in the bathroom in case something went wrong. She’d been in there almost an hour now, but he wasn’t about to rush her. Just as he thought that, he heard a noise at the bathroom door. He didn’t want to eavesdrop, but he went over and listened quietly. He could hear scratching at the door and frantic meowing. He was about to shortcut in, but remembered he forgot to lock the door. “ummm… do you need help?” All he heard was the cat again. “heh… i’m gonna shut my eye sockets an’ open the door in case… uhhh… y’know…” He took a deep breath, opened the door, and was immediately ‘attacked’ by the cat.

He could hear some faint crying as he felt that the cat had grabbed his slipper covered sock and started pulling him in the room. “uhhhh… serif… kiddo… can ya… i dunno… tap the floor once if ya don’ want me ta look an’ twice if it’s okay for me ta look an’ see what’s wrong…” He blushed as he kept his eye sockets closed until he heard two thunking sounds. He hesitantly looked at her and sighed in relief to see that she at least had a t-shirt and shorts on… they were too small for him, but somehow were still big on her… she was also partially covered by a towel. What wasn’t good was that she was lying curled up on the floor at an odd angle. He did a quick CHECK out of habit and saw her HP wasn’t any worse than it was before the bath. “your hp isn’t any lower, but just in case… here’s another monster candy…”

Serif looked up at the worried Skeleton Monster as he held out another one of the healing balls of food. She looked down at her hidden hands as tears of purple mana dripped down her cheeks. She was mostly facing away from him as she tried to sit up a little. She glanced at the skele-cat a moment before looking down again.

Sans looked at the display in confusion until he was interrupted by the cat meowing and pawing at him. Looking down he saw it looking at the candy, opening its mouth, and looking at Serif. “uhhhh… you wanna give it to her?” It meowed and smacked him with a paw as it waited for him to do something. He set down the still wrapped candy on the floor and it quickly picked it up by a corner of the wrapper and took it over. He could just make out her eating it, but he was worried about why she was hiding something. “did… ya slip an’ fall?” He saw her nod a little. “…are ya hurt?” She didn’t really give an answer to that. “…i bet fallin’ scared ya a bit…” There was the nod he was hoping for. “if it’s okay with ya, i can help ya outta there…”

She thought about it for a bit… she didn’t want him to see how… broken she was… _would he be revolted… would he still help me… would he throw me back into the void… would he…_ She was stopped by the sound of someone talking to her as her face was filled with the damp ecto-fur of her cat.

“ya back with us?” Sans looked down at her as she calmed down from her panic attack. “ya want help getting’ up now?” He saw her nod hesitantly again. “i’m gonna get lunch for us as soon as you’re comfy… blink twice if ya want ta go to the bed and three times if ya want ta go to the couch.” He saw that she blinked three times. “couch it is then… i’d give ya a _hand_ , but I’m kinda _attached_ to it right now…” He winked and grinned at her in hopes it would cheer her up a bit.

She tried to laugh, but could only make a hoarse noise, she did see him grin at her reaction though. She was glad that she was able to tie the strings on the shorts he gave her so they didn’t slide down and the shirt was a bit long and baggy on her. She was very uncomfortable about the fact that there wasn’t anything to cover her any further than that.

He noticed that her ‘hair’ was still wet and helped her up enough so she was sitting on the toilet again. He grabbed another clean towel and walked back over to her “i helped someone else dry their hair once, so i should be able ta do this.” Not noticing her reaction, he started to dry her ‘ecto hair’ off as best he could. As he removed the towel, he froze a moment… now seeing the reason she was hesitant for him to see her face and why she kept the left side covered.

Her left eyelight flickered with the same color of purple as her right, though not as brightly. The cause was obvious… there was a gash or crack that was hidden by her opaque ‘hair’… possibly all the way to the back of her skull… that went down to the top of her left eye socket… like a mirror image of… **_his_** … she didn’t have any on the right side thankfully. It looked old and didn’t have any sharp edges… _must’ve happened a long time ago…_ He saw her start to tear up again “hey… hey… it’s okay kiddo… i understand why you were trying to hide that… was it an accident or…” He stopped and winced when she shook her head slowly.

Before she could start to panic, she saw him pick something up from a bag on the floor and come back over. Before she could see what it was, something started going through her ‘hair’… it felt… nice… the more he did that, the more relaxed she felt.

He noticed she started to relax as he ran the brush through her ‘hair’… he wasn’t sure if it was going to work, but apparently it did and she was enjoying it. “you ever get your hair brushed before?” He felt a slight shake of her head. He stopped a moment and showed her the hairbrush. “this is a hairbrush… it is used to brush your hair.” He stated with an over exaggerated show of the brush like it was a rare item. He saw a small smile on her face and went back to brushing her hair.

He was trying to be careful and discreet, but he couldn’t help but notice that he was right about the crack. It went partway down the back of her skull as well. It wasn’t wide enough for something to fall in but the hair must hide and protect it from further damage. He also noticed how soft the ecto-hair was and tried not to blush when he realized he almost started petting her hair. He made sure he carefully brushed the front of her hair… he thought they were called bangs… more weird naming skills by the Humans… so that they covered her face like she had it before.

She blinked and looked around for a moment until she realized he finished with the brush and had put it away. She also realized he made sure to put her hair back the way she had it… or close enough. He had frozen when he saw the crack, like she expected, but then helped her cover it back up. He had an odd look on his face when he saw it, like it was painfully familiar, and then tried to cheer her up like it didn’t happen. She wasn’t used to trusting anyone… but he seemed… safe… and perfectly fine helping her.

Before she realized what happened, the towel slid off and she heard the sharp intake of air from the helpful Skeleton…

he saw them…

her damaged hands…

the perfectly circular holes…

that were cored from both of her palms…

and were still painfully seeping marrow from the wounds…

the warmth of the bathroom gone as the surrounding air went cold…


	4. a tale with a TAIL

Sans eyelights were nonexistent as he stared at her hands. There was no mistaking what was going on and he didn’t need three guesses as to who caused it. It was bad enough what that horrible waste of Monster Dust did to _him_ … it was worse that it happened to someone that couldn’t fight back. Did he trick her into ‘assisting’ him… or did he have the gall to ‘adopt’ her or claim he was going to ‘protect’ her so she had to do what he said or else be thrown out on the street.

Looking up from her hands for a moment, he suddenly realized she was about to have a full blown panic attack and he moved toward her without thinking.

Serif’s vision started going dark as she began shaking and hyperventilating… then it was calm… she felt vibrations on her lap and listened to the the familiar purring sound… something was wrapped around her but not to the point of being trapped… there was also a gentle rocking feeling and a deep but calm voice saying something quiet and soothing… she hated how she would just shut down so easily… she was broken after all… too useless to be wanted… too… that feeling was back again, but a little tighter… there was also something firm running up and down her back… sometimes in circles… she didn’t realize she was crying again… or still… it was hard to tell… where was she again… she tried to refocus on the voice…

“……not mad atcha… i’m so sorry i scared ya… ‘s okay… yer safe… **_he_** ’s not here… yer not in the void… ‘m gonna take care of ya… yer not alone… gonna help ya get better… **_he_** ’ll never get near you again… i won’t let that happen…” Sans kept rambling and trying to calm her down as best he could… normally he was the one that needed calming down… usually it was his bro calming him down from a nightmare. _paps is better at this, but i don’t have time ta find him… hope this’s enough…_ He could feel that her shaking was slowing down and her breathing was going back to normal. It was uncomfortable kneeling on the hard bathroom tile, but it gave him a good angle for the hug.

She started being able to breathe easier and her vision was coming back. She realized that Sans had his arms around her for some reason and jerked back in shock. She couldn’t go very far when she bumped into the back of the toilet as he pulled his arms away from her.

“sorry i didn’t ask first… thought mebby a hug might help pull ya outta that panic attack… it always works for me when my bro does it…” He saw the puzzled look on her face when he said the word ‘hug’ “…you… you… do you even know what a ‘hug’ is?” He was shocked to see her shake her head. Cursing under his breath he awkwardly tried to explain it. “… uh… you wrap yer arms around each other to show you care about someone, or ta help make them feel better, or some do it for a greeting. parents, siblings, friends, and other people really close to each other do it all the time ta show they care. some are gentle and some… like my own bro… tend ta hug as hard as possible… but without hurting!” He quickly added that as she started to have a worried look on her face. He held his arms out again “…ya wanna try?”

She still didn’t really understand the concept, but nodded a little. She saw him hold his arms out and wiggle his fingers a little… _am i supposed to do that too?_ She held her arms out a little and he moved towards her slowly, gently wrapping his arms around her torso and being careful of her hands. Then he squeezed just slightly… _this… this is okay… not scary… not too tight… not trapped… it’s… kinda nice… like bein’ wrapped in a blanket…_ She slowly tried wrapping her arms around him without hurting her hands and started to relax.

Sans smiled as he felt her try and hug back and start to relax against him. He tried not to blush again as he cleared his not existent throat. “…nice right? my bro gives the best hugs, but we’ll worry about you feelin’ better first... he can wait until you’re ready, okay?” He felt a nod as he carefully pulled away from her. “…can i bandage up your hands for ya?”

She almost hated that he pulled away, but she still felt awkward about the ‘hugging’ thing. She was glad he was letting her take her time about everything. He said he has a brother… did that mean another Skeleton Monster? Nothing seemed to be making sense… the air felt and smelled weird… there were other Skeletons… her cat seemed to take it all in stride, so it must be safe. It took her a moment to realize he said something to her again… she needed to stop spacing out… but her head felt so… ‘swimmy’ half the time… it was hard to focus…

He saw her visible eyelight go fuzzy again… _bein’ in the void that long when i was trying to get her out made it hard to focus toward the end… can’t imagine how hard it is for her…_ He waited for her to look at him again and repeated his question. She looked worried, but finally nodded her consent. Grabbing several items, he moved slow enough not to spook her and decided to explain every step he was doing since she seemed calmer when he did. _was it actually calming or did she really not know what stuff was…_

“…i’m gonna take a quick look at your hands first… i hope that at some point you’ll be comfy meetin’ some of my friends… one of them is the best healer i know… i’m the worst at it, but i have stuff that’ll help…” He looked at her hands and saw that he was right about the ‘cut’ parts still oozing a little marrow… he was surprised they weren’t infected… unless they were and it just wasn’t noticeable yet… “i need ta ask ya some questions… i hope i don’ upset ya with them, but it’ll make it easier ta help ya and ta figure out what happened.”

She saw him giving her hands a weird look… she could try and at least he knew to stick with yes or no questions. She knew this was going to hurt, but she could sense the good Intent even without him projecting. No-one ever did that for as long as she could remember… only hateful and possessive. She nodded in agreement and braced herself for his questioning.

“i noticed… when i did the check… there was a name crossed off… **_he_** … **_he_** did that to your hands… didn’t he…” He saw her look down and nod her head “and… the crack… your left eyelight…” another slight nod “…the first comment… that’s why you were in the void…” He almost missed the flinch and how slightly she nodded at that. “when we were in… the first room… you looked worried about the machine…” Another nod. “is that how ya got into the void?” She had an odd look on her face “…was it… like it but a different machine?” She nodded again. He was afraid of that… though it did explain a few things. “he used you to test it… guessing it didn’t work like planned…” Nod “do you know what it was s’posed ta do?” She shook her head this time. _so she doesn’t know either and if it worked right or not…_

She was getting a little tired and hungry, but she knew his questions were important. She wished she could speak, but her throat was still messed up from not talking or drinking anything for so long. There was no way of knowing how long she was floating in the void. Her hands hurt too much to write or speak in hands… not that she felt comfortable using _that_ method of communication. She didn’t realize he had put some kind of cream on her ‘cuts’ that felt soothing… almost numbing… whatever it was, her hands felt much better. It still hurt a bit to move them, but it would be easier for her to eat as long as it didn’t require using a utensil. She watched as he gently wrapped fresh gauze and some kind of stretchy… cloth over all of it.

He noticed her looking confused… _she must’ve spaced out again…_ “…i put some healing gel where the marrow was leakin’ ta help it heal better, packed it with gauze to keep it clean, and elastic bandages to keep it all in place and protected.” He saw her look at it in curiosity and flex her hands slightly. He shared her grin and got her attention again. “is there anything else that hurts?” He saw her shake her head… _her head wound must be old enough that it doesn’t bother her anymore..._ “y’know my right eyelight is messed up… can’t make it glow anymore… whole right side is fried actually… no way ta fix it… i can only control my magic with my left hand…”

She stared at him in shock… _he’s… broken too?_ Looking down at her hands and then touching her face, she thought _at least he doesn’t have any scars…_ As if he knew what she was thinking, Sans got her attention and hesitantly lifted his shirt just enough to show a badly healed lower rib bone.

He tried not to blush as he quickly dropped his shirt again. “the one that did it needed ta keep his reputation squeaky clean… you’d be surprised what can be done without leaving physical scars or at least ones that can’t be easily hid or explained away as ‘accidents’…” He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed “can’t know for sure without doin’ a scan, but i think ya might be from a different universe or reality or somethin’… i think the void might be some kinda in-between limbo or somethin’ that ya got stuck in when that machine didn’t connect to anything… no clue how i managed ta find ya when messin’ with the one downstairs… it’s not mine so i don’t understand how to get it to work… got lucky this time before it blew up again.”

Serif looked at Sans in surprise… he seemed a lot smarter than she was… at least he wasn’t shoving it in her face like other people. She nodded when he asked her if **_he_** had cracks or scars on his face and touched along her own crack and then down her right cheek.

“…the reason i asked is ‘cause the high and mighty piece of trash that made my life hell was also named gaster…” He saw her flinch at the same time he did at that name. “but his cracks are the opposite from yours… he took me and my lil’ bro in claiming he could help me with my low hp problem in exchange fer helpin’ him with his projects since i seemed as smart as him… i think you can guess how much he ‘helped’ me… at least i kept my baby bro safe from him…” He saw she was looking nervous “… he ended up fallin’ inta the core an’ getting’ erased from reality… i’m the only one that remembers him… i’d be happier if i didn’t…”

She sighed in relief at that… she didn’t want to worry about any version of him. She was confused by something he said though… she hoped he figured out her question.

“uhhh… why’d ya give me a funny look when i said the core?” He saw her look confused again. “the core… the thing that powered the underground?” She still looked confused. “were you on the surface then?” She still had that blank look on her face like she had no clue what he was talking about. “either ya lived underground or ya lived on the surface…” She shrugged and shook her head. “okay… before i get a headache… i’m gonna help ya to the couch… it’s not exactly comfy but it’s better than spending the day sittin’ on a toilet…” He saw the skele-cat hop off her lap and head out of the room.

With a nod, she let him help her slowly walk over to the couch, but she wasn’t worried about him seeing her injuries anymore. She didn’t feel as exposed as she normally would just wearing a short sleeved shirt and shorts. The shirt had some picture on it she didn’t recognize, but it wasn’t important at the moment. If she wasn’t so distracted with these new revelations, trying not to fall with her still wobbly legs, and being embarrassed that Sans was a head taller than her… she would’ve realized she forgot about something important. He had stepped behind her once they got to the couch so she could sit down when she heard him make a weird sound… it was like a random bunch of letters strung all together and spoken out loud. She turned to look at Sans and saw his entire skull was lit up a bright blue and his eyelights were staring… down… at… her…

“y-you… have… a… t- _tail_?” Sans squeaked out as he couldn’t look away at the cute little skeletal tail peeking out from the bottom of her borrowed shirt. He tried to clear his nonexistent throat as he saw it twitch a little, but he still couldn’t talk right. “that… is so… freakin’… _cute_ …” He made sure to keep his hands to himself and tried to calm down. _at least that might explain why she had such an overly big hoodie on…_

She blinked and slowly turned around, carefully sitting on the lumpy, blanket covered green couch while staring at the freaking out Skeleton. _he… thinks… it’s cute?_ She was always ashamed of what was always called a deformity… since she was born with an extra-long tailbone that went halfway down to her knee. She tried to hide it under long shirts or painfully tucking it in her clothes which caused her to sit on it. She never met her mother who Dusted sometime after she was born due to some defect of her own… or at least that’s what she was told. She never knew her mother’s name or told if she had a tail too… no-one else in her family had one.

“uhhh… i think i should go grab us some lunch now…” Sans mumbled out quickly, still a little higher pitched than his normal voice, and shortcut to the shadow covered alley next to Grillby’s. He stood in the cool air long enough to calm down and let his skull go back to normal. After he collected himself, he sauntered in and greeted all the patrons that shouted out his name. Even on the Surface, Grillby’s Bar still brought in the regulars from Snowden and he was finally getting some Human ones too. Sitting down at his usual stool, he waited for the Flamesman to come over. “hey, grilbz…”

Grillby stared at him a moment, giving him an odd look and signed “ _You are early today, Sans._ ”

With a grin he explained “helpin’ some _boney_ out and just grabbin’ lunch ta go… two orders of burg and fries… one with extra ketchup and the other…” He tapped a phalange on his cheekbone and thought a moment “…dunno what they might want… don’t s’pose you could put a little of everything in the bag so I don’ have ta come all the way back again.”

Grillby gave him a deadpanned look and sighed, heading to the back to start the order.

Sans always wondered if Grillby knew about his shortcuts… he was a heck of a lot smarter and more observant than anyone ever realized. He felt bad leaving Serif alone like that and realized he might’ve triggered another panic attack. Pulling out his phone, he discreetly brought up the camera so he could see her. She was leaned against the back of the couch with the cat on her lap and it looked like she was dozing off. He shut the app off with a sigh of relief and tried not to twitch when he felt something slap his shoulder.

Redbird slapped Sans on the shoulder again with a wing and sat down on his usual barstool. “Heya, Sans… you been too busy to visit your old pals?”

“more like you’re usually too drunk ta remember…” He told him with a grin. The guy could get annoying sometimes, especially when he badly ‘translated’ what Grillby said to whomever he was waiting on. It didn’t matter if they understood him or not… sometimes when he was too drunk it turned into something like those ‘Google Translate’ videos. “how do ya know i haven’t been here… it’s not like you’re here from open ta close or anything…”

With a chuckle, Redbird leaned over the other direction to pester whoever was sitting there.

Looking up after hearing a noise, he saw Grillby looking at him with a raised ‘eyebrow’ and three bags. Two were the same size… most likely the food and the third was smaller… peeking in he saw it was full of every kind of condiment and dressing packet he had along with a bottle of ketchup. “thanks, grillbz yer a lifesaver.” With a grin, he was about to pick up the bags when Grillby began to sign to him again.

“ _Let me know how your new friend likes it and please bring them in at some point._ ” He grinned when he saw Sans flip his hood up, turtling into it, and grabbing the bags, trying to hide his quickly blushing face and mumbling “puitonmytab…”

Sans rushed out the door and shortcut back to the cabin as soon as he was in the clear. Just because he was in a hurry, didn’t mean he could afford to be sloppy. He quietly set the bags down on the coffee table and tried not to scare the napping Skeleton while trying to wake her up. “…hey, serif… food’s here.” He saw the skele-cat look up at him and stretch out before pawing at its ‘owner’.

Serif woke to a soft paw gently smacking at her, someone talking, and a wonderful smell. She opened her eye sockets to see Sans sitting to the left of her on the couch with a grin on his face. He was opening some bags that were in front of her on a small table and whatever it was smelled delicious. They each had the same thing laid out on top of the flattened brown bags. At least he realized she was a righty and he was lefty and sat so they wouldn’t bump their elbows into each other when they ate.

Sans noticed the curious look again “this is a burger and fries…” He pointed to each item for clarification. “…from my favorite place ta eat called grillby’s.” He pulled out a pair of clear disposable gloves and pulled them over her bandaged hands. “this way ya don’t get them dirty…” He popped a fry in his mouth and motioned for her to do the same.

She picked up the same thing he did from her own pile. It was very warm and smelled like a potato so she gave it a try. Her eye sockets went wider and she turned to Sans and smiled. She noticed he covered his in a thick, red liquid.

“heh… this is ketchup… i basically drink the stuff, but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea…” He noticed she didn’t quite get the joke on that one. “there’s all kinds of stuff that people like ta dunk their fries in… gotta bunch of stuff for you ta try.” He stopped and realized he needed something for her to drink to wash down anything she didn’t like. “be right back…” He shortcut home long enough to grab the milk and pop back up in the kitchen, filling a mug and bowl with milk and putting the jug in the fridge for now. He placed the bowl on the floor for the skele-cat and the mug on the table. “let’s begin…”

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By the time her fries were almost gone… though he was pretty sure the skele-cat got half of them… he found that she hated anything spicy, bitter, sour, overly salty, overly sweet, or vinegary. He quickly threw the options from those categories in the ‘nope’ pile and looked at the choices that were left. So far she didn’t mind ketchup, Ranch dressing, or a few others though not with fries. The next thing he picked up for her to try was ‘honey mustard’… she hated any other type of the yellow condiment, but this was a lot sweeter and not bitter or spicy like the rest. Apparently it was considered a condiment, salad dressing, and dip according to the packet. He tore it open for her and squirted a little on a clean spot on the bag so she could try some.

Her eyelights brightened as she pointed at the packet and then where he had put it. He chuckled and squirted the rest out as she quickly dunked another fry in it. “looks like we found a winner… there’s not much there so is it okay if i go grab ya more so ya don’t run out?” He saw her quickly nod as she continued to eat. He shortcut near the grocery store he usually went to and quickly went to the aisle with the condiments and dressings, making sure to find a bottle of the same kind of honey mustard that Grillby gave him. He knew not all brands tasted the same… he was a connoisseur of ketchup after all. Grabbing a few other things from his list, and going through the shortest checkout line, he came back to see her mid lick, trying to get the last of the dressing off the bag.

Putting the groceries away… or more like the things that needed in the fridge put away and everything else left on the counter… and grabbing something to squirt the dressing into, he came back and passed it to her. He saw she was still blushing a bit for getting caught, but she seemed pretty happy. They both finished their fries and Sans was ready for her to try the burg. “if ya liked that yer gonna love burgers…” He picked up the top bun and poured ketchup on it, doing the same for hers with the honey mustard. He slowly picked his up so she could mimic him, trying not to chuckle about her having trouble with her smaller hands and the slippery gloves. “i’ll get ya some better gloves later…”

He watched her expression as she took her first bite. He didn’t think her eye sockets could get any bigger and her eyelights were the brightest he had seen yet. “told ya it was the best…” He said with a grin as he gladly ate his. He noticed that she was much more relaxed now. She had been so tense and nervous he was surprised she had even started to take a nap earlier… _she prob’ly wore herself out from so many panic attacks…_ “when you’re done eating you can take a nap if ya want or if you’re still hungry i got a few snacks you can try…”

As she ate, she saw him drink his bottle of ketchup again. She had finished drinking the milk he gave her and was still thirsty. After finishing her burger, she hesitantly picked up the yellowish squeeze bottle and squirted some in her mouth. She blushed when she realized Sans was staring at her again and set the bottle back down.

With a chuckle, Sans lifted his ketchup bottle “welcome to the club, kiddo… if ya liked it that much go right ahead and drink up.” He saw her hesitantly take another drink. _heh… she’s got stuff all over her mouth… burger was a bit too big for her, but she definitely liked it…_ After they finished, he popped over to the kitchen and grabbed a damp towel. He helped her remove the food and grease covered disposable gloves and then wiped her face with the towel.

She sputtered a bit as he took a wet cloth to her mouth… thankfully she didn’t panic thinking it was something bad. When he finished, she patted her nonexistent stomach and shook her head to let him know she was full. Now that she was calmer, she finally got a better look at her surroundings. The room she was in wasn’t that big, but it was far from feeling claustrophobic. There wasn’t much in the way of furnishings, but it still had a lived in feel rather than stark white walls and smelling of chemicals.

After Sans cleaned up the trash and threw the rag in the sink, he noticed she was looking a bit spacey again, but she looked calm this time. A quick CHECK told him that her HP was at least a solid 1 point. “hey… does your cat need anything else?” He saw her blink a few times and then look over at him, shaking her head. He started to go put the rest of the groceries away when he heard something. Turning back around, he saw her looking at him… he heard it again…

“…th…k…y…oo…”

Sans couldn’t help a huge smile as he walked back over to her and slowly gave her an awkward hug, making sure not to startle her. “you’re more than welcome… i’m glad yer feelin’ better… guess Grillby’s a miracle worker… bet my bro’ll have a fit about that.” He chuckled as he finished the hug “…he thinks it’s nothin’ but grease… can’t wait ta tell him that it left ya the opposite of speechless.” He attempted to give the skele-cat a little pet to see what would happen. It glared at him, looked at Serif, and then made some kind of annoyed sound while bumping his hand with its head. “guess it’s not being so _catty_ now, huh?” It glared at him again, but let him give it a few scratches behind its ecto-ears before swatting at him.

Serif tried to chuckle but it sounded more like air escaping than an actual laugh. She comforted the annoyed cat as Sans laughed at its antics. When she saw he was looking her way, she pointed to the cat and managed to get out a single word. “…p… urr… see…”

Sans raised an ‘eyebrow’ and realized she was trying to tell him the name of the cat. “purr see?” She nodded. “do ya mean its name is ‘percy’ or are ya emphasizin’ the ‘purr’ part on _purr_ pose?” He saw her give him a big grin and a nod. “or is it ‘cause it seems ta have a _purr_ severance trait.” He saw her agree again. “ _welp_ … guess i gotta make sure i _purr_ nounce it _purr_ fectly for ya so ya don’ haveta correct me.” He saw her trying to laugh again, though at least this time she wasn’t as frustrated about it. He pet the cat again “… _mice_ t’meet ya _purr_ cy…” If the cat could roll its eyes he was pretty sure it would have, though it did act like it was going to bite him. “it’s a _mew_ tiny i tell ya!!!” He jabbed a thumb at the skele-cat . “this one’s im _paws_ ible to please…”

This time she was trying to laugh so hard, she actually managed to get a few faint giggles out. Next thing she knew, some kind of fabric was dropped on her head. Pulling it down, she saw it was an overly large dark orange hooded sweatshirt with red sleeves, hood and pocket that was about the same size as the worn out brown one she was wearing when she came here.

“my bro didn’t appreciate it… granted it was more of a gag gift than anything and i like mine ta have more zip…” He emphasized by unzipping and re-zipping his hoodie a few times. “…i was kinda worried the one ya had wouldn’t survive bein’ washed as thin and worn out as it was… that and i didn’t know if ya wanted ta wear any… reminders of where you came from.” He saw her shake her head angrily and it sounded like she tried to tell him to burn them. “welp… this way you’ll be more comfy and less anxious whenever you think you can handle going and picking out your own clothes… and don’t worry about paying for it…”

With a smile she pulled the brand new hooded sweatshirt on. She realized that it was long enough that if she stood, it would cover her tail and the sleeves and hood could easily hide her hands and face. She watched Percy happily climb in and curl up inside the large pouch-like pocket. _a nap sounds nice..._ There were so many reasons she liked this style best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun with this chapter (i was going through pun withdrawal)
> 
> And you thought the "tail" in the name of the series (and title) referred to the skele-cat... didn't you
> 
> and yes, Sans spoke in agfatbgxfvgzlajkbsj (or however you prefer to spell it)
> 
> Grillby's on to you Sans... bartenders (and hairdressers) know all...
> 
> [also here's a thing i did of Serif with Picrew](https://sta.sh/02782oi69xw4)
> 
> [and one using Gacha Life](https://sta.sh/017dqk66psr8)


	5. what a TERRORable day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes Sans' curiosity can get a little out of hand...
> 
> also... there are some things better left 'unsaid' *wink*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the long wait.... this chapter didn't wanna behave...

Sans watched as Serif pulled the oversized hoodie on. The size had been perfect for Paps, not baggie or oversized, but on her… it was almost a dress since it went to her knees, sleeves flopping well past her hands. The large pocket hung low enough that she couldn’t even put her hands in it. After she sat back down, _Purr_ cy… crawled into the pouch and got comfortable. She tugged the hood over her head to cover most of her face, and pulled her legs up inside the sweatshirt itself. Leaning against the back of the couch with a big yawn it was obvious that she was taking another nap. With a soft smile, he pulled a blanket over her and gave her a pillow. He was glad she was starting to get her voice back and wasn’t surprised they both spoke in the same font. He normally didn’t pay much attention anymore since it was only a Skeleton thing, but he was curious for once. With a quiet sigh, he went back to finishing putting the small pile of groceries away.

As he did that, he thought about how different her bones seemed compared to his. She wasn’t that much shorter than he was, she just barely came to his shoulder, but her proportions were very different. He always had a slightly heavyset appearance compared to his brother due to his more broad shoulders, ribcage, and pelvic bones, especially when he wore his hoodie. If anyone ever saw him naked, it would be obvious how small he actually was. That’s why he didn’t care if people gave him funny looks when Frisk drug him to the beach this past summer and he refused to take his shirt off.

The old clothes he gave her seeming so much bigger on her than they should was due to her much narrower frame. Papyrus also had a very narrow body type compared to him but she seemed even more so, though that was also hard to compare considering he wasn’t sure if she would even come up to the bottom of Paps ribcage. On top of all that, when he saw her arms and legs after she changed into the t-shirt and shorts, he could see how thin and frail her bones were. Was it due to malnourishment, mistreatment, time trapped in the void or a combination of those… who knew.

With that done, and thinking about when she changed her clothes, he realized with all the distractions between her falling and getting lunch… he never emptied the bathtub. The water was almost black with how much dirt and who knew what else was in it. He was glad the tub had a built in drain plug so he didn’t need to reach his hand in the water. His bones rattled as he shuddered… thinking about how gritty the now cold water would feel on his bare hand. He watched the water drain out a slower than usual, the grit ringing the sides of the tub where the water level was originally.

He knew from first-hand experience that it wasn’t just dirt left behind, but dried marrow, spent mana from sweating or crying, and Monster Dust. As bad as it was when a Monster began to Dust due to dangerously low HP or Falling Down, he hoped that it was only that in her case and not from another Monster. Her CHECK showed she didn’t have any LV or EXP, but he knew he could take someone out with Karmic Retribution and not gain any Levels in either. Granted he only had that ability when he channeled The Judge and there was only supposed to be one at a time. He didn’t know if it was possible for there to be _two_ Judges if one was from a different reality… universe… whatever. _could i even sense if there was another one? it’d prob’ly get all huffy and tell me how insulting it was to have another one in its presence or something... but it also said she was ‘innocent’ so i doubt she ever hurt anyone let alone dusted them…_

Looking at the tub again, he saw it finally drained down to a sludgy pile of grit. Turning the water back on, he grabbed the shower attachment and hosed down the sides of the tub, swirling the spray around until the last of the grit finally drained away. _at least i caught it before it dried and caked on…_ Knowing how to get rid of the evidence of his bones shedding Dust from low HP without letting Papyrus know wasn’t something he was exactly proud of. He was also pretty sure that Alphys knew he realized what those special bath bombs for ‘bone health’ were truly for. Granted he didn’t ask for them much anymore and between the whole ‘no more resets’ thing, being on the surface, and seeing his bro so happy and popular… just like Paps always dreamed of… his base HP had actually risen a little. Even with a good buffer when he bothered to get actual sleep, he was still in the single digits most of the time. Even under the most perfect conditions he never could get it past 10 HP. He always did have more HOPE for his brother than for himself after all.

With one last wipe down with an old rag, he threw it in an empty trash bag along with using Blue magic to move her old clothes in as well. He wasn’t about to touch any of that and realized he needed to wash the bedding she slept on before her bath. He didn’t want Paps seeing any lingering Dust and panicking that it was his. Slowly dropping them in the bag without kicking anything up that may be caught on the inside of the fabric, he realized that all she had been wearing was a filthy threadbare hoodie that was way too big for her _…was it actually brown or just what it looks like now from age and lack of washing..._ She had also had a pair of oversized sweatpants that might’ve been black at one point. He never realized she hadn’t actually been wearing any shoes or socks and that the pants were long enough to cover her feet.

With a blush, he wondered if she needed more than just a shirt and shorts… granted Skeleton Monsters didn’t exactly need undergarments in the same sense as the Humans did, but he still wore Boxers under his shorts most of the time. He knew there were other types of things that females wore due to the Humans obsession with advertising the most awkward things in the most public ways. That and the fact that the kid was a teenager now and was pretty embarrassed about having to buy something called a ‘bra’ the last time he helped take them out on a shopping trip. Maybe he could get them to help her out when the time came to get her more clothes. Right now he didn’t think she was ready mentally or physically to be going _anywhere_ considering her frequent panic attacks, zone outs, and difficulty walking.

Setting the bag down a moment, he figured it was a good idea to double check how many of those special bath bombs he had left. He didn’t keep any at home anymore so his bro didn’t find them and ask what they were for. As much as Paps knew he was doing better, there were still rare times that he still needed to use one. As few and far between as those times were nowadays, he didn’t want to worry Alphys by asking for more… at least not until he was able to introduce Serif to her. There was no way he could lie and say it was for him and Paps was the only other Skeleton Monster and his cool bro would never need something with that type of healing properties. He saw there were only two left and hoped it would be enough to keep her bones from shedding any more dust until either her health got better or it was safe for Alphys to meet his ‘guest’ and ask for more.

With that done, he quickly checked on Serif before grabbing the bag he threw the possibly Dust covered bedding in and added the towels she used to dry off with as well as picking the ‘to be disposed of’ bag back up. Grabbing the jug of milk he ‘borrowed’ from home, leaving the new one he bought in the fridge for Serif and _Purr_ cy, he shortcut home to take care of those items before his bro was aware anything was amiss. He figured he could come back after his next chore to move the load to the dryer and made sure he had the ‘offensive’ bag before making his way to Hotland. Specifically the nearest lava flow he could safely get to and happily dropped the bag in. She told him to burn it and he didn’t have fire magic, soooooo… mission accomplished… plus ultra. _think i’ve been watchin’ too many anime’s with alphys and undyne… though ‘dyne and paps really seem ta like that one with all the action in it… and i can appreciate the teacher that caries his own sleeping bag and takes a nap wherever he wants…_ With some stamina back from a quick break, he made sure to switch the laundry to the dryer before heading back to the cabin to take a nice long, well deserved nap.

¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ 

As soon as he came out of his shortcut near the mattress, he knew something wasn’t right. As quiet as the room was, he could hear some slight movements of cloth, very faint sounds he couldn’t place, and frantic meowing from what had to be the skele-cat. As he shifted to summon a bone attack just in case, Percy darted over the back of the green couch, running towards Sans until it got close enough to grab his slipper covered sock again and pull him in the direction it came from. “…something wrong with serif?” As soon as Percy let go to mew in agreement, he shortcut in front of the couch to see Serif with her eye sockets wide and her eyelights out and very obviously in the middle of a sleep terror. _can’t call it a **night** terror if it’s daytime… _She was thrashing around a bit as well as whimpering and trying to say something, but due to her voice still mostly gone, he couldn’t make anything out. He knew it would be dangerous to wake her, but he couldn’t stand seeing her like this… like _he_ was sometimes… terrors could be just as dangerous to others nearby… there was a reason he never cleaned his room and it wasn’t due to laziness. It wasn’t unusual for him to unconsciously use Bone attacks and Blue magic in rather violent ways when in the middle of one.

Mew?

He saw Percy staring at him from the back of the couch as if begging him to help her. “sorry bud… i can try ta calm ‘er down but it’ll make it worse if i try ta wake’er up or startle her…” He heard the skele-cat make another sad mewl as it looked back down at the terrified Skeleton. He wished he knew more about her, like if she could use any magic that could accidently injure or Dust him while he tried to help her or even just by standing there. She hadn’t used anything so far though whether it was due to low magic levels, her injuries, not having any major types of magic besides simple bullet attacks that any monster could use… even those still in Stripes, or simply not wanting to use anything remained to be seen. The weird skele-cat that seemed pretty intelligent for a pet was also was a big mystery, but that could wait until later when Serif was able to be more talkative.

He wished he was useful at healing or calming magic or at least similar types of Intent. Not that he didn’t have plenty of practice with the opposite end of the Intent spectrum… Intimidation was his specialty after all, but that would just make things worse. What was he supposed to do? Tuck her in and recite ‘Peek-A-Boo With Fluffy Bunny’ ad verbatim like he did with Papyrus since he was a babybones? Stroke her hair and sing ‘Soft Kitty’? Heh… maybe he’d get a _Big Bang_ outta that _theory_ … He held his hands up, ready to catch her if she started to fall off the couch, knowing that was painful and not a fun way to wake up. _why didn’ i have her move to the mattress ‘fore she fell asleep… just ‘cause she looked comfy, i still shoulda…_ He shook his head since it was too late and he wasn’t about to move her with his magic considering her panic from just mentioning it earlier. He swore he started to see a weird color flickering in her left eye socket…

Mrrrr?

Sans glanced up and saw an odd look in the skele-cats eyelights… like it was looking through Serif instead of at her. Looking back down, he saw she curled up again, still swinging her arms a bit and kicking a little, and had closed her eye sockets. Since there was enough room between her spine and the back of the couch he decided to try something. With a sigh, he tried to slowly rub her back with only enough pressure for her to just barely feel it through the sweatshirt. Enough to know it was there, but not enough that she’d think it was forceful. He stopped a as she froze a moment, then started back up again as he quietly started reciting ‘Fluffy Bunny’ to her. Paps always said his voice was very soothing when he read to him and the kid seemed to agree when they came over for a sleepover and Paps insisted on a story. He just hoped the cat wouldn’t have a _hissy fit_ about him getting so close to her let alone any kind of contact.

The skele-cat hopped over to the front of Serif and curled up against her as she started to calm down enough that it knew it wasn’t going to get hit by accident. Once settled, it started a very low and strong purr as it glanced at the ‘sans’ as he continued to do whatever he was doing that seemed to be helping. It decided that it could tolerate him for now, but any wrong move and he was not going to be happy with the results. That and if it wasn’t for the fact that **_she_** liked making jokes about its name, the ‘sans’ would’ve been scratched a while ago for doing it too.

With a mental sigh of relief, he saw that the skele-cat didn’t seem bothered with his closeness as he continued to calm her down. She wasn’t struggling or trying to speak anymore and her breathing was almost back to normal. He figured he should at least finish the story even if she was calm just for completion’s sake. That and it was kinda nice to ‘read’ the story to someone that actually needed it and not just for the sake of nostalgia. Once he finished, he saw she was sleeping peacefully again and removed his hand from her back. Glancing at the cat, he saw one eyelight watching him as it continued to purr. “heh… feel weird asking you, but should i carry her over to the mattress or just leave her here for now?” He saw it glare at him like it was daring him to do something stupid so it could bite him. “…okay… no moving her… got it…” He held up his hands and backed away as the cat gave an amused huff. With a yawn he decided to take his nap on the mattress, setting a quiet alarm on his phone so he could get up in time to get them something for dinner.

¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ 

He woke up with a start as he realized something was gently poking him in the shoulder. Cracking open an eye socket, he realized Serif was sitting on the floor trying to get his attention. “…wuzz wrong…” He glanced over to see she was pointing at his phone as he realized his alarm was going off. Turning the alarm off, he groggily sat up. “…sorry… did it wake you?” He saw her shake her head. “…needed a nap m’self and didn’ want th’ alarm ta wake ya… guess it didn’ wake me either…” With a shrug, he put it way and got up as he thought about what to do for dinner. “…do ya have any preference on what ya wanna eat?”

Serif shook her head and carefully stood back up, using the nearby wall for support. Her legs still felt incredibly weak due to not using them for so long. The Void didn’t exactly have a floor or gravity so the use of muscles, magic or otherwise, was a bit of a moot point.

Sans saw that his guest was still as steady on her feet as a newborn deer and came over to give her a little support. “…ya wanna go back to the couch?” He saw her look a little guilty and nod in agreement. “…it’s okay… yer still weak from the void and yer gonna have trouble doin’ stuff until you get your strength back. mebby i can get ya a few small weights an’ stuff ta help speed it up a bit.” Once he got her back to the couch, he plopped down himself. “do ya want grillby’s again… or hotdogs… or somethin’ new?” He saw her shrug for her answer. “ …howsabout this… ya wan’t me ta leave ta get somethin’ or stay here a make somethin’?”

“…st… ay…”

He noticed she looked worried for a moment and realized she might’ve still been shook up from the sleep terror. “…okay… ‘dogs it is then…” As he got up to go to the kitchenette, she gently grabbed his sleeve to stop him. “…ya wanna go to the kitchen with me?”

She answered with a shy nod as she shifted awkwardly.

“…i’m gonna grab a chair fer ya ta sit on and then we’ll go to the kitchen… that good?” After a quick nod, he walked over to the kitchenette and opened a folding chair he had tucked away. He didn’t have a dining set since it was just him and he ate at the couch and coffee table. If she ended up staying long term, he might have to get something small, even if it was just a fold up set. He helped her stand back up and walked her to the chair since he didn’t want to shortcut with her any more than necessary. The less contact she had with the Void after being in there so long, the quicker the recovery.

As he started up the hotdogs, he figured it was a good time to ask some more questions since she seemed pretty lucid. Passing her a cup of water, he waited for her to finish and take the cup back before asking. “…is it okay if i ask ya some more questions?” With a hesitant nod, he began “…let’s see… do ya know how ta read and write?”

She nodded, glad it was an easy question and traced the letters ‘Y-E-S’ on her shirtsleeve.

 _…good… she knows how to read and write common… i was worried she’d only know **that** language… _Next he used ‘Hands’ to ask the next question. “ _do you know hands also called sign language.”_

She startled a bit and sucked in a breath as she gave him a very slight and shaky nod.

Sans held up his hands in surrender as he saw her reaction. “…okay… good to know and i won’t use it again ‘less i have ta… i know someone that uses it and i’ll give them a heads up before they meet ya so they don’t worry you…”

“…th…k…y…oo…” She said with a smile. She was glad he realized it bothered her without her needing to tell him.

With a smile, he turned a moment to check the ‘dogs. “…ya don’ have ta keep thankin’ me… try not ta talk until yer magic gets more stable so it’ll heal faster… sooo… i apologize in advance for this next one, but…” He turned around and leaned his back against the counter so he could see her reaction “…do ya have a brother or younger sibling?”

She shook her head since she never had either of those.

He thought a moment about how to word the next part without triggering a panic attack “…do ya have anybody… safe… that might be looking for ya or anybody i need ta try an’ find for ya?”

She shook her head sadly and looked down as she felt tears of mana start to build in her eye sockets.

Sans quickly knelt down and gave her a hug “…it’s okay… i just wanted ta make sure i didn’ need ta try an’ find where ya came from in case you needed me ta bring someone here… never bringing it up again… personally _i’m_ glad yer here and i’ll always be there if ya need me… you can stay here as long as ya want and i don’t just mean this cabin…”

She nodded as she gladly accepted the hug, happy that someone felt that way towards her and didn’t want her gone.

Stepping back and seeing a small smile on her face, he smiled back and checked on the ‘dogs again. “…welp… these’re done… lemme just get everythin’ ready to take to the table and then i’ll help ya over… a lil’ walking will help get that strength back, but i don’t want ya fallin’ either…”

She watched as he got out three plates to put the food on… though one of those had the food cut up into smaller pieces, two bags of something, their condiments, and two large cups of milk as well as a bowlful for the cat. She flinched a moment when he used Blue magic to levitate everything towards the couch as he helped her up. It made her nervous, but as long as he didn’t use it on her, she could deal with it.

Sans noticed she seemed a little twitchy when he used his Blue magic and remembered her reaction when he suggested using it on her to help her up. He was about to say something when her felt her calm down a little. _…somethin’ musta happened to her involving that type of magic… i’ll have ta try and be careful not to spook her too much with it…_ Once they both sat down on the couch, Sans made sure to put her honey mustard on her two hot dogs, ketchup on his, and put the plate with the cut up ‘dog on the floor for the cat. “… _bone_ appitite…”

Serif noticed that these hotdogs tasted better than the ones from this morning and not just because of the honey mustard. She realized he must’ve gotten fresh ones as she happily ate… realizing this was the first time she could remember eating more than once a day, let alone anything that actually tasted good.

After they both finished their hotdogs, Sans picked up the little bag and pulled it open for her. “…these are called chisps… i think you had some this morning but most of that’s still kinda a blur so i can’t quite remember…”

Careful of her still tender hands, she gently took the bag from him and continued eating after taking a drink of her milk. She wished there was something she could do to repay him for saving her, giving her a place to stay, and feeding her.

Sans saw her looking bothered by something “…i’m glad ta help ya if that’s what yer worried about… sometimes i feel like i didn’t do enough ta keep my bro safe when we were little and that i made too many bad choices… especially agreeing to ‘help’ you-know-who… i get the feelin’ you didn’ get a chance ta make that choice…”

Serif closed her eye sockets and slowly shook her head.

“…y’know what… we need some kinda code word for **_him_** so we don’ haveta say **_his_** name… heh… like ‘he-who-shall-not-be-named’… that’s kinda long though… hwsnbn… heh… sounds like a sneeze…” He noticed she seemed puzzled and not laughing at his joke. “…guess ya never read those books or saw the movies huh? it’s about this super evil guy with magic and he’s so powerful it’s dangerous ta even say his name out loud so everyone just calls him that…” She seemed to nod in some understanding “…we could say ‘voldy’… it’s short for voldemort which was the guy’s evil villain name… they’re both creepy looking evil bald guys with no nose, have super powerful magic, buncha lackeys, likes to leave scars on kids, acts all high and mighty, can speak in a weird language, and there’s people who fear to speak his name… it’s perfect…”

She cringed at the description a little and shrugged to let him know it didn’t matter what he picked.

“…think i might have ya watch the movies first so it’s easier to understand…” He tapped his chin a moment in thought “…yer confused by me askin’ ‘bout the underground _and_ the surface… and my lil’ bunker lab bothered ya…” He stopped when he realized she reacted when he said ‘lab’. He swore under his breath as he rubbed his face and with a sigh, he braced himself for the answer he hoped she didn’t verify. “…your ’voldy’ kept you trapped in a sealed lab, didn’t he…”

With a quiet sob, she nodded as she covered her face in shame.

He leaned over to give her a hug and tried to comfort her. _…stars damn **him** … at least that explains why she was panicking in the bunker and why she doesn’t know social stuff like a normal person and only knows basic logical skills like reading and writing… _“…i’m sorry i had to ask… but at least now i know a lot of the things that’ll scare you so we can try and avoid them.” _…small enclosed places, places with no visible exit or windows, stark white walls, labs, doctor’s offices, lab coats, hospitals, bleach, the words ‘lab’, ‘doctor’, ‘gaster’, and ‘experiments’… heh… so same as me only a hundred times worse… and being stuck in the void i don’t doubt extreme darkness and basically any type of sensory deprivation…_ “…the more we figure out now, the less times i’ll accidently trigger something later… my ‘voldy’ took me an’ my lil’ bro off the streets… gave us food an’ shelter in exchange fer helpin’ him with his… work… if i ever refused he’d threaten to throw us back on the streets… we were starvin’ and desperate so i agreed… did somethin’ like that happen to you?”

She shook her head with a sad look in her eyelights as she pulled out of the hug.

“…were you adopted from an orphanage?” Shake. “…parents dead before being taken there?” Shake. “…parents hand ya over?” Shake. “…parents… worked there?” She nodded her head and held up one phalange. “mother?” Shake. “father?” Nod. “…did your dad work for ‘voldy’?” Shake. “…did you at least get to see your mom growing up?”

She sadly shook her head and brought one hand up about chest height, palm down as she began to cry harder. Her phalanges were in a light fist, with her thumb resting on the side of her hand as she moved it in a circular motion in front of her like she was cleaning a counter… or more accurately… sign language for the word ‘dust’. Then she pointed to herself before cradling one arm in the other and slowly rocking them back and forth… like someone holding a baby…

He really needed to finish his questions so she could get a break. “…were you… born there…” Nod. “…didja at least see yer dad every day?” The answer to that question was a shudder and a shaky nod as she squeezed her eye sockets shut. “…did ya see ‘voldy’ every day?” A nod with the same reaction. “…so you saw both at different times of the day even though yer dad didn’t work for him?” he mumbled until he saw her shaker her head. “…at the same time?” Nod. “…but my voldy’d never let anyone see us but his most trusted lackys and even that was super rare… if it wasn’t for leverage since you don’t have fond memories, and he wasn’t one of his lackys… why would they both be there at the same…” _no… no… no… nononononono… can’t be…._ “…serif… what… how… are you… in some way… related… to your ‘voldy’?”

She slowly pointed to herself before touching her thumb to her forehead with a slight tapping motion, moved her hand out an inch, then touched her thumb to her forehead again. At the same time she quietly spoke the word she signed…

“fa…ther…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *achem* soooo...... SURPRISE! *jazz hands*
> 
> let's just say someBONEY is totally getting the worst father of the year award...
> 
> Also Sans is totally an Aizawa STAN
> 
> Sans = Aizawa Shouta ( My Hero Academia )
> 
> Both love napping in odd places at random times, have the unimpressed resting face, seem aloof most of the time, have 'the look' with glowy eye(s), neither of them take crap from anyone, are good at putting feisty kids in their place, don't like being in the spotlight, are a lot tougher then they seem, and know how to give someone a 'bad time'
> 
> also...
> 
> Gaster = Voldemort
> 
> you can't change my mind
> 
> [also here's a thing i did of Serif with Picrew](https://sta.sh/02782oi69xw4)
> 
> [and one using Gacha Life](https://sta.sh/017dqk66psr8)


	6. exploring proper CONDUCT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans, you need to learn to keep your big mouth shut and a certain cat is very unaMEWsed with you right MEOW....

Sans grabbed Serif, holding her as tight as he could without hurting her as she quietly bawled her eye sockets out. The purple colored tears of mana quickly soaking his hoodie as the skeletal cat glared at him. He didn’t give a crap how pissed off the skele-cat was with him about making her this upset. He cared even less if her tears stained his beloved hoodie… not that it would… magic was weird like that. He couldn’t believe it… _her_ Gaster was her stars damned _father_ … granted her CHECK basically said so and with **_his_** name somehow crossed off and her ‘text’ saying she was a ‘waste of genetic material’ meant he couldn’t care less about his own kid… what made it worse was that since she clued him in that she had _both_ parents, **_he_** didn’t _just_ create her in a lab… she was his actual biological daughter… and she basically told him that her mom Dusted when she was a baby and she ended up locked up in his lab her whole stars damned life.

_…yo judge… if i ever cross paths with that scumbag i am 1000% on board with letting you loose on **him** until **he’s** nothin’ but dust and i don’t even care if i somehow gain lv or exp from it… that is an honest to stars **promise** … an’ you know how i feel about any of that…_

/WE ARE IN AGREEMENT/

/JUSTICE SHALL BE SERVED/

/HIS SOUL SHALL BE SHOWN NO MERCY/

With practically a full body shudder, Sans was completely creeped out by the fact he basically just had a two sided discussion with is ‘inner voice’ and it was totally in agreement over Dusting someone without even doing a Judgement. _…huh… apparently the judge can get pissed… ya learn something you never wanted to know every day…_

No one noticed Percy giving Sans an odd look before getting close enough to Serif to start purring again.

Sans rubbed her back and held her tight while she had a grip on the front of his hoodie and continued to cry into his shoulder. He started rambling anything he could think of that he could do to make up for her miserable life. “…i’m gonna be the most overprotective big brother ya never had… when ya get up in the mornin’, i’m gonna make you the best breakfast ya ever ate even though i’m a lousy cook… an’ when yer strong enough ta walk by yourself, i’m gonna take ya ta all the touristy places nearby…”

Pulling out his phone he onehandedly looked up weird tourist spots. “…an’ later i’m gonna take ya ta all the stupid tourist traps… like the biggest ball of twine so we can make a _string_ of puns… and the pigeon museum since that sounds pretty _coo_ … and some weird building that was inspired by a baked potato, just hope stopping there doesn’t _foil_ our plans… and carhenge, but it better not _drive_ us crazy… and we can _slip_ into the banana museum real quick… and the kazoo museum sounds like _music_ to my nonexistent ears… and we can flamin _go_ to the plastic petting zoo… and apparently there’s even a ketchup museum… and now… i realize you’ve got no idea what most of that stuff even is…”

He could feel her shaking again but this time she was also shaking her head while it sounded like she was trying to laugh through her sniffles. She let out a big yawn as she relaxed against him and loosened her grip on his hoodie. She shifted to curl up on her left side so her bangs wouldn’t cover her whole face and continued to lay against his chest as she pulled _Purr_ cy into her arms.

With a sad smile, Sans shifted a little so he could get a pillow behind him as he leaned against the arm of the couch and pulled a blanket over them both. It reminded him of how he held his little bro, when he was younger and much smaller, the few times he’d get sick. He hated to admit he missed taking care of someone and was always glad Paps still enjoyed ‘story time’. _…crap….i forgot ta tell paps i wasn’t gonna make it ta dinner…_ He switched to his texting app as he continued to comfort Serif by gently rubbing her shoulder and arm.

 **punmaster:** sry missd dinr

 **punmaster:** prjct rl senstve rt now

 **coolest bro:** THAT IS QUITE ALL RIGHT AND I THANK YOU FOR INFORMING ME

 **coolest bro:** WILL YOU BE HOME LATER TONIGHT?

 **punmaster:** wanna but not gud idea

 **punmaster:** @ vry delicate stge gtta keep cls eye

 **coolest bro:** THIS MUST BE A VERY IMPORTANT PROJECT! I DO HOPE YOU ARE EATING AND NOT JUST JUNK!

 **punmaster:** yup 8 food & nap

 **punmaster:** sleep l8r whn i cn

 **punmaster:** u sav dinr?

 **coolest bro:** OF COURSE I SAVED YOU SOME DINNER LAZYBONES!

 **punmaster:** thnks pap ill grab 4 lunch 2 _marrow_

 **coolest bro:** I SEE NOW IT IS VERY IMPORTANT AS YOU HAVE ONLY PUNNED ONCE THIS ENTIRE CONVERSATION

 **punmaster:** heh _hp_ to show u soon

 **coolest bro:** NYEH! NEVER MIND! GOOD NIGHT!

 **punmaster:** night bro luv ya

 **coolest bro:** I LOVE YOU TOO BROTHER! NOW GET SOME SLEEP BEFORE YOU BECOME MORE SAPPY!

 **punmaster:** ya no i gotta _tree_ t my bro rt _fir_ realz

 **coolest bro:** JUST FOR THAT I SHALL HIDE YOUR KETCHUP! GOOD NIGHT!

Putting his phone away, he glanced down to see Serif was nearly asleep though the skele-cat had one eye open to watch what he was doing. He realized he was still rubbing her upper arm and shoulder and she seemed much calmer now. With a sigh, he glanced at the cat again, wondering just how sentient and aware it really was. He didn’t know if she was awake enough to hear him, but he wanted to make sure she felt safe. “…can’t wait fer ya ta meet my bro an’ our friends… you’ll have a whole _group_ of people ta keep ya safe… though i’m only gonna tell ‘em some vague basics… just ‘nough ta help ya but not ta let them know ‘bout you-know-who… i’ll let you decide if and when ya wanna share more… if ya never do that’s good too…”

Percy watched as the ‘sans’ kept… petting… its sleepy friend. Percy was very annoyed at the ‘sans’ for upsetting her so much and asking questions about the ‘bad place’ and the ‘bad Skeleton’. The ‘sans’ was being rude and nosy and made her cry so much it could feel the waves of sadness her SOUL was giving off. The ‘sans’ said he was only trying to help, but making her sad was the last thing that could possibly help. At least the ‘sans’ was finally attempting to make up for it by trying to make her laugh and feel better even though that involved those horrible puns. Percy was not happy the ‘sans’ kept making jokes about its name, but since she did the same and he might just be repeating it, Percy could tolerate it for now. Not that it liked it or anything.

¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ 

Sans was pretty much dozing in and out from the sounds of purring and quiet breathing as his two guests slept curled up on top of him. He blushed a little as he thought of someone’s automatic reaction if they saw them like this. _…it’s fine… stop worrying… used a do this all the time with paps when he was a babybones… just ‘cause she’s a girl don’t mean nuthin’…_ As he glanced around the still lit room, he almost used his magic to turn the lamp off but stopped himself in time. _…she’d prob’ly panic if i did that… mebby i can get a couple of them special nightlights that come on when it gets dark… i think there’s even ones that charge up and kick on and work like a flashlight when the power goes out… that way she don’t freak out if that happens…_

Slowly pulling his phone out again, he saw it wasn’t as late as he thought it was _…that might explain why paps wasn’t that mad about when i texted him about dinner…_ He searched for a bit and found one called a ‘blackout buddy’ _…huh… there’s one that even works as an emergency phone charger… neat…_ Ordering a few with rush shipping, he put his phone away again, wondering how he could go about leaving her alone. He couldn’t stay here 24/7 without anyone getting suspicious about his absences after a week or more. He couldn’t keep up the ‘i’m at the lab’ excuse since Paps hung out with Undyne and half the time that included Alphys. _…all it would take would be paps asking alphys how my project was doing and her saying she hasn’t seen me…_

Feeling a quick vibration from his phone he checked it only to see it was just the confirmation email for his order. _…wait… a phone… or a tablet… she can read and write… she can’t talk too good yet and she prob’ly can’t write **write** now… heh… but she could type out a message or bring up video chat if she needed to see me… the games could keep’er distracted and help get her hands used ta movin’… she could look stuff up ta help explain where she is an’ what things are… mebby i **should** get alph in the loop a little… just gotta be discreet… _

**punmaster:** u still up

 **fishyluv:** yes?

 **punmaster:** w or w/o fsh

 **fishyluv:** I’m still at the lab and Undyne is with Frisk for some overnight thing. You’d know if you ever showed up LOL

 **punmaster:** sry if my _lab_ sence bothrs u

 **fishyluv:** ha ha so what do want?

 **punmaster:** y u thk that?

 **fishyluv:** You didn’t start with a pun, joke, or meme and you asked if my GF was there

 **punmaster:** got me there… and don u mean _gill_ friend

 **punmaster:** id call but i need 2 keep _quiet_ bout this

 **fishyluv:** go on… I’m ‘listening’ LOL

 **punmaster:** ug… wish i could call 2 explain

 **fishyluv:** You do remember that add-on I made last time

 **punmaster:** …yes?

 **fishyluv:** I knew it! You were asleep you liar!

 **punmaster:** dunno wut u tlkn bout

 **fishyluv:** I did that add-on for a special head-phone/mic since you have a h-ear-ing problem

 **punmaster:** huh neat and nice 1 alphs

 **fishyluv:** just tap the icon that looks like skull with headphones

 **punmaster:** doncha mean head _bones_?

 **fishyluv:** just try it ya dork! One goes where an ear would be and the other goes on your ‘throat’

Sans tapped the new icon he’d been wondering about but hadn’t bothered with and two odd pieces popped out. They looked slightly like the round patches Humans used to connect electrodes or other medical monitoring devises to human skin except they weren’t sticky and were a lot thicker. He could sense a small amount of magic on them, similar to what he used on his glasses when he needed to wear them… it kept them in place for a limited amount of time. It was better than constantly rolling up random types of tape or using poster tack. It just needed a small charge of magic to activate and it was good to go without any embarrassing aftermath with forgetting to remove said sticky substances from his skull. One side of each piece had a small rounded piece of metal most likely the receiver antenna for the phone.

Giving each part a ‘charge’ with his magic, he placed the one with a headphone symbol on his acoustic meatus, or where his ear would be if he was Human, and the one with the microphone symbol on his neck where a Human’s larynx would be. They had found out through… testing… that most phones and accessories that Alphys made or modified didn’t work right with him or Papyrus. He knew their magic worked a bit different than other monsters and it took a long time to figure it out, but after getting to the surface and eventually getting access to newer technology, they finally had a breakthrough. It was quick and easy for Alphys to mass produce smart phones that the monster population could use… they worked with magic conductors and not electrical conductors like normal ones, so they were useless for Human use. Somedays he got tired of hearing Humans whining about wanting a phone with physical storage. With the exception of Frisk, Humans couldn’t use Dimensional Boxes… not that he cared one way or another and wasn’t in any rush to fix that.

Unfortunately for some stupid reason… _probably gaster’s fault…_ the sensitivity was always off… more for him than Papyrus… some extra tweaking on the sensitivity and Paps was able to dive into the wonderful world of Human Social Media Apps while Sans was stuck still using his flip phone… granted sometimes he missed his first cell phone… that thing was nearly indestructible… he remembered seeing some memes at some point calling it a ‘brick’. He never did understand why so many ended up at the dump even though they still worked… guess the Humans wanted newer technology… there was enough gathered that at one point nearly every monster had one. The only reason he and many others eventually switched phones was due to the ‘brick’ not being compatible with the vastly evolving UnderNet.

The way his messed up magic was… _thanks again gaster…_ he had overly high magic levels, but too low natural output so either the touch screen wouldn’t respond or he’d fry the poor thing with a magic surge… especially if he was doing something with said magic when he was using the phone. He’d seen similar results involving a microwave and a ball of aluminum foil. Also, cellphones and shortcuts did not mix, especially when location tracking was on. They both gave up on finding a solution to it that didn’t result in full system failure. The best they could do was he only turned that function on the few times he actually needed to use it and if he forgot to turn it off, it auto shut off when it detected the magic signature of his shortcuts activating. He also constantly kept his phone backed up on the Cloud… just in case…

It took an extra year to work out the kinks but he was finally able to enjoy trolling his little bro on the various Human Social Media Apps with ease and watching YouTube on the go. Much to Papyrus’s dismay he couldn’t help constantly telling him that his new phone gave his life _meme_ ing. With a quiet chuckle and a deep, unneeded breath, he hit the call button and hoped for the best. Next thing he knew, Alphys’ voice was nearly rattling through his skull as he shook his head to get his bearings. _…that… was a reeeeeaaaaaaly weird feeling…_ He turned down the volume a bit before his skull rattled off his neck and focused on what Alphys kept saying to him.

“C-come on, S-Sans… d-do you h-hear me o-or not? If y-you do, a-answer kinda like wh-when you t-talk without opening y-your mouth, b-but in-instead of through y-your t-teeth… f-focus on the p-patch on y-your neck.”

Sans focused like she suggested and piped up with _“…can you hear me now?”_ He could ‘hear’ the aggravated sound Alphys made at his joke and chuckled again. He looked down and saw there was no reaction from either ‘guest’ so… so far so good. He continued to ‘speak’ to Alphys _“…feels really weird… like my skull is resting on a speaker with a really deep bass playing…”_

“Huh… i-interesting… I b-based this pr-prototype on something c-called ‘bone conduction’… it’s p-pretty fascinating research… I m-modified it to w-work with m-magic, but since y-you left without t-testing it, I didn’t know if it worked. “

 _“…i feel like i’m gonna have a headache later… already feel like i’m goin’ cross-eyed and i don’t even have eyes...”_ He rubbed the space between his eye sockets and continued. _“…gonna try an’ make this quick and hopefully painless.”_

“Th-that’s o-okay. At least it’s a w-workable o-option for you and P-Papyrus once we work the kinks out.”

 _“…considering these are wireless… i don’t see where the **kinks** could be…”_ He heard yet another sigh and the sound of her taking notes. _“…what i’m gonna tell ya doesn’t get discussed with **anyone** until **i** say so… **or else** …”_ He really didn’t want to tell her about the machine… she knew a little about the Void and his shortcuts though… that would work… technically he pulled her out of the Void… not the machine… _“…well… i was doin’ a little… fiddling… with my shortcuts…”_

Alphys snorted over the line “Y-you didn’t get st-stuck i-in a wall a-again, did you?”

 _“…noooo… first i am **not** drunk… second i know my limits now... third i haven’t done that in a while thankyouverymuch…” _He had to wait for Alphys to stop giggling before he could continue. _“…as i was sayin’… i was trying something out with my shortcuts and long story short… ifoundsomeoneinthevoidandbroughtthembackwithme…”_ All he heard was the sound of a pen being dropped and a confused ‘what?’ from the other side of the line. _“…i… uhhh… found… someone… inthevoid… aaaaand… broughtthemhere?”_ He had the sudden urge to turn the speaker volume down much lower.

¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ ¯\\_(°w-)_/¯ 

He couldn’t make out what Alphys was saying through her babbling for a few minutes… he could pretty much guess what most of it consisted of though. _“…alphys…. alphys… alphys… **alphys**! yer shaking my skull like a maraca!”_ After she stopped and apologized, he continued _“…i’m pretty sure it was a one-time fluke and don’t know how they got there…”_

“B-but h-how did they survive? You s-said it y-yourself that it’s d-dangerous to be there a-and the few r-readings we did sh-showed p-prolonged exposure w-would be fatal… e-even with magic l-like your sh-shortcuts y-you could only t-tolerate a f-few minutes…”

_“…heh… uhhhh… well… first off… they have a perseverance trait…”_

“Okay… that or Determination would make a _little_ bit of difference…”

 _“…ehhhhh… aaaaand…”_ He practically turned the speaker volume off completely _“…she’s a skeletommonster…”_

Que the high pitched fangirl squealing…

After a few moments of incoherent noises, he could just make out her saying something about rushing to his house. _“…alphys! **alphys! stop! i’m not at the house! if you wake up paps i’m never letting you have anime night ever again!** ”_

“GASPU! Never? B-b-but w-where are you then?”

 _“…not gonna tell ya if ya don’t calm down…”_ he could hear her grumbling about his tracking being turned off on his phone. _“…she’s really weak… physically and magically… due to her long exposure to the void… she can barely speak and her hands were severely damaged… and before you say anything, no… it’s pretty much a permanent thing like my right eyelight… ‘cause of that she can’t write or use sign language… i was hoping you could make another phone like mine… gotta funny feeling she might end up havin’ a similar issue with it…”_ He could hear her shuffling around… most likely looking for her notes. _“…bein’ her magic is exhausted and prob’ly disrupted in her hands you might need to be prepared to mess with the sensitivity when she gets it… mebby some kind of text-to-speech thing might be helpful depending on how she does… and again… no… telling… **anyone** … not paps… not undyne… and **especially** not your tin man…”_

“Mettaton is n-not made of tin! Oooooo… I c-could have it ready by t-tomorrow afternoon! OMG! This is so exciting!”

_“…no alph… you need to get some sleep… i know this is the pot calling the kettle black, but no all-nighter…”_

“pfffft… puhleeeease… I already have a b-backup model of your phone i-in case you fry it… I just h-have to u-update the o-operating system and add any n-necessary apps… I’ll just d-download the basics and you can add stuff later… I could do that in m-my sleep… are you gonna tell me where you are now?”

 _“…not until you promise me no ‘shipping’ or ‘friend fiction’ or whatever you call that stuff you do…” He could hear her whine for a few moments before sighing dramatically and mumbling out a ‘fine’ and an even quieter ‘spoilsport’. “…gonna need that in writing, alph…”_ He quickly got a text message agreeing to his terms. _“…now i gotta warn you… she panics real easy… she hasn’t been here 24 hours yet an’ i already lost track of how many severe panic attacks she’s had… she also has huge focus issues so ya gotta make sure her eyelights’re focused and explain everything yer doin’… basically treat her like someone with amnesia or a concussion… no sudden movements… absolutely **no** lab coat or lab related… pretty much just avoid the same triggers i had on my extra bad days back before i started helpin’ in the lab again…”_

“That bad huh?”

 _“…you got no idea… also due to the whole void thing… no dark rooms… got some special nightlights gettin’ delivered tomorrow so i don’t have’ta keep a lamp on all the time… had ta use one of those ‘special’ bath bombs on her… only got two left so a few more wouldn’t hurt at some point…”_ he could just make out her make a pained noise over the line. _“…whatever yer imagining… it’s even worse… between panic attacks, night terrors… heck… just trying ta leave the room can cause a panic… i can’t stay with her 24/7 without worryin’ anyone, but with you in the loop you could help cover for me… she’s too skittish ta be around anyone yet… yer the first one i told about her… i’m hopin’ that with you bein’ the most calm and quiet person i know, she might not be as scared… no promises though… let me know when you’re ready and i’ll turn on the location so you can track me… that’ll be easier… and safer… trust me… now get some sleep…”_

“Y-you too, Sans. G-good night… and I promise… this secret is safe with me… until you tell me otherwise…”

After he ended the call and put everything away, he massaged his temple, his skull still feeling like it was buzzing or vibrating. _…i’ll have ta show her a picture of alphys an’ explain what’s gonna happen after she eats breakfast… i just hope this won’t be too much for her…_ With that, he gently tried to get comfortable and slowly fell back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big Brother Mode ACTIVATE!
> 
> *whispers* ...in duplicate....  
> *nudges The Judge* knowwahti'msayin'...  
> *eyebrow wiggle*
> 
> (someone's having a little bit of Older Bother Empty Nest Syndrome)
> 
> ...and Sans.... i don't think that museum is what you think it is...
> 
> also... hope telling Alphys doesn't end up being a 'Bad Idea TM'
> 
> [also here's a thing i did of Serif with Picrew](https://sta.sh/02782oi69xw4)
> 
> [and one using Gacha Life](https://sta.sh/017dqk66psr8)

**Author's Note:**

> don't FURRget to show my other two stories some love... 
> 
> [**A PUNderSwap TAIL**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23332375/chapters/55892416)  
>  Stretch just wanted to go to Muffet’s Pastry Parlor and Bar and relax with some of the special Honey she made. His little bro was hanging out with Alphys and Undyne, so he could get away with a quiet, uneventful evening.... or at least that was the plan...
> 
> [ **A PUNderFell TAIL**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23479243/chapters/56292925)  
>  It may be a ‘kill or be killed’ world, but there was a secret that only the Skeleton brothers discovered that was much more important. Appearances and reputation were the most powerful things a Monster could have… and the two of them had that in spades. Now if only Red could get that pile of scrap metal to work and possibly get them somewhere safe... at least he hoped that's what it did... not getting blown up in the process would be good too... oops...


End file.
